Arnold Sets World Lead as Aggies Conclude Florida Relays

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Jermaisha Arnold established the world lead in the women’s 400m as the Texas A&M men’s and women’s track & field teams finished the second and final day of the Florida Relays at James G. Pressly Stadium on Saturday.

Running in the first heat of the women’s 400m, Jermaisha Arnold and Tierra Robinson-Jones shot out of the starting blocks and stormed through the finish line side-by-side, Arnold crossing in 50.71 and Robinson-Jones in 50.90. Arnold’s mark is a personal best by over half a second, the fastest time in the world this year, and makes her the fourth-best performer in school history. Robinson-Jones’ time is the second-fastest time in the world this year, and is one one-hundredth of a second off her personal best of 50.89, set last year on the same track at the Tom Jones Invitational.

Connor Schulman, running the 110m hurdles, finished the prelims as the top collegian with a personal best time of 13.59. In the final, Schulman finished as the fourth collegian with a wind aided time of 13.56 (w/3.0). His wind-legal time from the prelims remains the wind-legal national lead and makes him the fourth-best performer all-time at Texas A&M.

In the 100m hurdles prelims, Jaiya Covington qualified for the final, crossing the finish line in 13.20, a lifetime best. Later in the final, Covington topped her prelim time with a 13.13 to finish fourth. Her mark is a personal best, the top freshman time in the nation and makes her the No. 12 performer in Texas A&M history.

Sanu Jallow, another Aggie freshman phenom, competed in the women’s 800m, clocking 2:06.32, running a personal best for the second-straight week. Jallow’s mark is the fourth-fastest freshman time in the NCAA and improves her No. 9 all-time performer mark at Texas A&M.

In the women’s 100m, Camryn Dickson and Semira Killebrew both clocked personal bests. Dickson recorded the day’s fastest wind-legal time of 11.40 to place sixth overall, while Killebrew finished ninth at 11.48. Dickson’s mark equals the No. 2 freshman time in the nation.

In the field events, Zach Davis took home the victory in the pole vault competition, clearing an outdoor personal best of 17-7.75/5.38m. Davis’ mark ranks him No. 1 in the SEC, No. 7 in the NCAA and improves his mark at No. 9 on the Texas A&M all-time performer list.

Maci Irons kept the personal best streak going, as she put the shot 50-4/15.34m to improve her lifetime best by over 10 inches. Irons ranks fifth in the SEC and moved her name up to the No. 6 spot on the school’s performer list.

In the women’s 4x100m relay, the team of Jania Martin, Leeah Burr, Camryn Dickson and Semira Killebrew registered a time of 43.61 to finish runner-up to Florida. The Aggies’ mark is a season-best and ranks third in the SEC and NCAA.

The men’s 4x100m team of Ryan Martin, DeVante Mount, Isaiah Teer and Connor Schulman also finished second with their clocking of 39.68.

In the final event of the day, the 4x400m relay, the men’s team of Omajuwa Etiwe, DeMarco Escobar, Bryce McCray and Eric Hemphill III finished third in a stacked field. McCray brought the Aggies into contention with a 45.67 split, before Hemphill III anchored the team home with a strong 45.34 split to cross the finish line in 3:04.30, a season best, the second-best time in the SEC and the third-best mark in the NCAA.

The women’s 4x400m team composed of Kennedy Wade, Jermaisha Arnold, Tierra Robinson-Jones and Sanu Jallow won the event in 3:28.41, a season best and the national leader. On the second leg, Arnold skyrocketed into the lead, handing off to Robinson-Jones, who split 51.12 before handing off to Jallow, who brought the Aggies home in 52.25.

Texas A&M Quotes

Head Coach Pat Henry

On Texas A&M’s Performance at The Florida Relays…

“This was really a productive weekend for the team. We had so many season-best and personal bests. The environment and the weather were great. This was a competitive meet. We couldn’t have asked for a better weekend. Jermaisha Arnold and Tierra Robinson-Jones highlighted the meet for us, but we have a lot of people quickly getting better right now. That’s what it’s about this time of year, we just have to stay healthy and keep improving.”

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