SPORTS
The Battalion I 2.6.15
4
TRACK
Weekend meet the last home stop for Aggies
By Seth Stroupe
Aggie fans will have their last
chance to glimpse the track
teams in person this weekend.
Texas A&M will host the Ag
gie Invitational Meet this Friday
and Saturday at Gilliam Indoor
Track Stadium. The Aggies come
off last weekend’s Arkansas Invi
tational in Fayetteville, where the
men missed a first-place berth by
one and a half points to take third,
and the women finished fourth.
“It’s good for our team to un
derstand that it takes everyone to
win,” said head track coach Pat
Flenry. “The SEC championships
are coming up and that’s an op
portunity to make sure that ev
eryone can be on the same page
on the same day. That’s what each
of these competitions is about,
trying to find out where our
strengths and weaknesses are and
deal with them prior to the SEC
Championships.”
Despite a missed first-place
shot, the men’s 4x400 relay team
ran a near-historic race. The Ag
gie quartet of Gary Coleman,
Bralon Taplin, Shavez Hart and
Deon Lendore came within three
hundredths of a second of break-
EQUESTRIAN
ing their own national record
with a time of 3:03.23. For its ef
forts, the relay team was granted a
share of this week’s SEC Sprinter
of Week award, the third con
secutive week that a Texas A&M
team member has held that dis
tinction.
This weekend’s meet features
Baylor (men No. 15), Clemson
(women No. 24), Houston (men
No. 21), Rice, TCU (men No.
23), Texas State and UTEP — a
lineup that will pose a challenge
to the Aggies even it isn’t quite
as stout as the five top-10 schools
A&M faced last weekend.
“It’s a good balance of teams,
[both] the men and women’s
side,” Henry said. “This will be a
competitive meet in almost every
event and that’s what we need for
this time of year.”
The Aggie Invitational Meet
is the last opportunity to catch a
meet in College Station. Despite
eight national championship titles,
the track team lacks the amenities
to host an outdoor meet and must
spend the entire outdoor season
away from home.
“This is the last home meet for
28 seniors,” Henry said. “This
weekend is the last time that
they’ll get to compete at home
because we don’t have a track
facility that our athletes can com
pete on outdoors. Indoors is fun,
it’s good to do, but track is really
an outdoor sport. The fact that we
don’t have an outdoor track is just
incredible.”
The Aggies’ last home stand
W. BASKETBALL
will kick off at 2:30 p.m. Friday in
Gilliam with the pentathlon, hep
tathlon and distance medley relay.
The majority of the competition
will take place Saturday, with
field events and prelims starting
at 12:30 p.m. The meet is avail
able on SEC Network+ and the
Watch ESPN app.
AGGIES ON
THE ROAD
AGAINST
RIVAL BAYLOR
No. 6 Texas
A&M visits No.
1 Baylor in the
hunt for its first
road win. More
at thebatt.com.
Aggies claim close victory against Missouri
By Andre Perrard
The Aggies need every win they
can get to better their NCAA
Tournament resume. On Thurs
day, A&M took care of business in a
55-48win over Missouri (12-11,2-8
SEC). The Aggies were led by Court
ney Walker, who scored 17 points in
the win.
It was a back and forth game in the
first half, with the largest lead being
seven by the Aggies. Ball security was
a key for the Aggies, as they only had
five turnovers in the game.
Walker added seven rebounds in
the win. Chelsea Jennings contributed
off the bench as well, scoring eight
points and grabbing three rebounds.
Courtney Williams also scored eight
points with four rebounds.
Jordan Jones reached double fig
ures with 10 points, four rebounds
and three assists.
The Aggies shot well to close the
first half and went into the locker
room with a 28-21 lead at the break.
A&M played good defense, forc
ing 21 turnovers, which the Aggies
turned into 17 points. Achiri Ade
led the Aggies with eight rebounds
in the game and had a solid game in
the paint.
The Aggies tried extending their
lead in the second half, stretching it
to a nine-point advantage. However,
the Tigers cut the lead to as litde as
three, but big shots from Jones and
Walker pushed the lead back to seven.
The Tigers would not go away,
again cutting the lead down to four
late in the second half, but the Ag
gies made their free throws down the
stretch to put the game away.
The win moves the Aggies to 18-5
(6-3 SEC). A&M travels to No. 18
Mississippi State on Sunday afternoon.
SOFTBALL CONTINUED
out on the field and compete against the
best.
“I’m really anxious and excited to see
how we handle the stress and pressure of
a game,” Evans said. “I don’t remember
a time when I went into a season with
so many inexperienced players in terms of
playing time at the college level. It’s go
ing to be interesting to see how our kids
respond.”
The Aggies enter the new season with
plenty of fresh faces, as many of the top
contributors last year graduated. Upper
classmen like catcher Nicole Morgan and
outfielder Cassie Tysarczyk held huge
leadership roles that now have to be
picked up from players who lack in-game
experience.
Senior Rachel Fox is one player Coach
Jo Evans hopes will assume a leadership
role.
“She’s a natural leader in terms of be
ing a pitcher on the mound,” Evans said.
“Anytime you’re a pitcher you have got
to lead the team.”
A player to keep an eye on is junior
outfielder Cali Lanphear, who began her
college career with a bang as the first Ag
gie freshman to garner All-America hon
ors. Last year, Lanphear struggled to get
at-bats, let alone to be the big bat in the
lineup to drive in inns. Now that Nicole
Morgan has graduated, Evans feels Lan
phear will be able to regain her freshman
year form and produce in the hole that
Morgan left behind.
“I’ve seen good improvement out of
[Lanphear],” Evans said. “She’s someone
we’re really going to need to lead us of
fensively, especially in the RBI categories
and the power numbers.”
All of the main contributors from the
pitching staff return this season. Fox and
junior Katie Marks are projected to take
the brunt of the load, along with rising
sophomore Abby Donnell. Fox is excited
to see her club playing this season.
“I expect us to compete,” Fox said. “I
expect us to work hard, day in and day
out. We’re a younger squad, but I don’t
think that’s going to make too much of
a difference. The freshmen have come in
and put a lot of hard work in. I’m very
pleased with them.”
Junior outfielder Alex Masek said the
Aggies are ready to prove people wrong.
“People aren’t going to expect any
thing from us and we’re going to use that
to our advantage,” Masek said. “We have
a lot of fresh faces and fresh talent, but
we’re determined and that’s a big deal.”
DUO CONTINUED
\ J .} ' '.ri'i i li/u p
for a visit and the players were really
cool and they took me in as their
own brother.”
Coming out of high school,
House was rated a 5-star by Rivals,
com. He proved the rating imme
diately, becoming the first Houston
Cougar to hoist Conference Fresh
man of the Year honors with aver
ages of 13.6 points and 5.3 rebounds
per game. But, like Jones, a coaching
change sent House from Houston.
Switching schools is no easy task
for a collegiate athlete. Neither play
er was sure to play at all this season.
House wasn’t cleared by the NCAA
to play until the fourth game of the
season. Jones became eligible before
the season’s start but he’ll have to sit
out the first four games of the 2015-
16 season because he took part in
two closed scrimmages at SMU be
fore transferring in January.
When House learned he was
cleared to play by the NCAA, his
team suffered a heartbreaking, 55-
53 defeat to Dayton in the opening
round of the Puerto Rico Tipoff. In
his first game, House was the lead
ing scorer with 18 in a 64-51 con
solation championship victory over
New Mexico.
Although he was good to play
at the get-go, injury forced Jones
to watch from the sideline in street
clothes as A&M dropped SEC
games against Alabama and No. 1
Kentucky, which the Aggies took to
double overtime on 25 points from
House.
Since Jones came back, the Ag
gies hadn’t lost a game until trav
eling to Ole Miss Wednesday, a
stretch that saw House garner SEC
Player of the Week honors. With
nine SEC games remaining, the pair
share the team lead with 13.8 points
per game.
“We were lucky that we got both
of them in the summer,” Caruso
said. “They didn’t have to start late,
so we got to talk to them a bit and
kind of get them going with the pro
gram and how everything works.”
After assessing his time at A&M,
House said he’s assured that he made
the right choice. Jones shares the
sentiment.
“I think I made a great decision,”
Jones said. “I love the community
around here. I love the players. I
love the coaching staff. The academ
ic support here is excellent. I just feel
like I made a great decision.”
House and Jones have helped
spur the student body’s interest, as
Saturday’s win against Vadnerbilt
marked the largest student atten
dance in Reed Arena since 2011.
Still, A&M’s success has yet to find
a national audience. The 15-6 team
remains unranked, though many
now project A&M to be selected
for the NCAA Tournament. Fortu
nately for the Aggies, they still have
nine games for their star duo to draw
attention.
“By the end of the season, I want
a lot of people to recognize this
team as a good team because a lot
of people consider us as an average
team,” House said. “I don’t think
we’re average. A lot of our players
put in a lot of hard work and dedica
tion to the game of basketball. For
the team, period, I want to get to
the NCAA Tournament.”
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