Freshman Athing Mu has been setting records at Texas A&M every time she steps on the track. She did it again Saturday at Gilliam Indoor Stadium, this time bettering the mark of one of the Aggies’ most decorated track and field athletes, while also setting a world junior mark.
Mu won the women’s 400 meters in 50.52 seconds at the Charlie Thomas Invitational, breaking the 10-year-old school record set by former Bowerman Award winner Jessica Beard.
“I’ve known of her, but I haven’t really known about the things she’s actually done,” Mu said. “So the other day I looked on my phone with our trainer, and I was like, wow, she is crazy good. It was really cool to break her record.”
In Mu’s first attempt at the 400 this indoor season, the 800 specialist also broke the world junior record and ran the fourth fastest 400 by an American woman.
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“I [am] most happy about that,” Mu said of running the fastest time of anybody under the age of 20. “I just wanted to come out here for one, have fun, but also I think [50 seconds] was on my mind because I ran that time on the relay. But 51 was the next time I wanted to hit.”
Mu ran a 50.03 split as A&M’s anchorwoman in the 4x400 relay last week at Texas Tech, and she’s posted times of 51 in practice.
“To take a 10-year record down off of there, that is a huge accomplishment for her today,” A&M head coach Pat Henry said. “We ran intrasquad in December and we know in training what she is going to be able to accomplish. We knew she was ready to run.”
Despite the fast time, Henry nor Mu said it could’ve been faster because neither were happy with the start.
“My start was not that great,” Mu said. “I don’t think I really pushed off the blocks. I had about a day’s work on it, and I haven’t practiced that for about two years. At least I got the footing right and attempted to do it.”
While Mu ran the world’s fastest time this season, A&M sophomore Charokee Young took second in 51.83, the world’s fourth-fastest time.
“I wanted Charokee to get to the break first, but Charokee let up a tiny bit and here comes Athing,” Henry said. “Once she gets rolling she is tough to beat. Charokee hung tough, ran hard and did a good job.”
Although Henry said it was a solid meet for all those who competed, the Aggies did not field a 4x400 women’s team and only ran what amounted to a B team in the men’s race. The mile relay has been among A&M’s best event since Henry arrived 17 years ago.
“I’ve been coaching 48 years and I don’t know that I’ve ever not been able to run a 4x4 ever,” said Henry, who had five quarter-milers sit out Saturday. “I needed to rest a couple, and if you have someone a little bit sore, I’ve always been able to leave a person out and run somebody else. But now with somebody sore and still dealing with COVID, it worries me going forward, and I have to be extremely careful.”
A&M’s Jania Martin continued her impressive season, winning for a third time at a home meet with a personal-best 23.44 in the women’s 200.
A&M freshmen finished first and second in the men’s 3,000 with Nicklaus Brawner running an 8:30.55 and Siddharth Jayaraman just behind in a personal-best 8:36.45.
LSU’s Damion Thomas broke the meet record in the men’s 60 hurdles in the prelims at 7.75 then again in the final at 7.72. Teammate Eric Edwards took second, while A&M’s Connor Schluman, who had won his three previous meets, placed fifth at 7.84.
A&M’s Deon Lendore (2015), a volunteer coach for the Aggies, saw his 400 meet record fall to LSU’s Noah Williams, a junior who ran a 45.57 to beat teammate Sean Burrell, who also bettered Lendore’s mark of 45.68 with a 45.57. Both ran in the 4x400, but LSU finished third behind Oklahoma and Texas. The Sooners’ won by .02 with a 3:07.86.
Texas senior Adrain Piperi won the men’s shot put by better than 12 feet with a personal-best and stadium record throw of 71 feet, 4 inches.
Julien Alfred of Texas won the women’s 60 in 7.17 after breaking the meet record in the preliminaries at 7.13. Kiara Parker of Arkansas set the mark at 7.24 in 2019. A&M junior Zhane Smith set two PRs with a 7.36 in the prelims and 7.33 in the final for third.
A&M’s Darius Clark, a Florida State transfer, lost the men’s long jump for the first time in three home meets, finishing second with a best of 24-2 ½ to Oklahoma’s Rayvon Allen (25-2).
A&M’s CJ Stevenson won the triple jump with a leap of 49-6 ½.
“We did the things we needed to do here and didn’t overdo it,” Henry said. “I think we had 22 season bests today and we added to the record board.” A&M keeps a record scoreboard that displays its top 12 all-time performances.
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NOTES — Tyra Gittens, who set the A&M pentathlon mark last week in Lubbock, participated in the women’s shot put and 60 hurdles. She threw 41-4 1/4 for eighth in the shot put and ran a personal best 8.28 for fourth in the hurdles. ... Aggie junior Brooke Barrington set a PR in the 800 with a 2:10.92, good for third. ... Former A&M distance runner Grace Fletcher (2014) had her 5,000 meet record of 16:13.71 shattered by Rice sophomore Grace Forbes, who ran the fifth-best collegiate time of the season at 15.50.38.