Texas A&M Men's Challenge Preview

This meet would have been greater had Curtis Mitchell not decided to go professional. Although Mitchell will not be competing there are plenty of other great athletes who will be. This meet has the chance to have an automatic qualifier in almost every event.

Sprints

This should be a barn burner. Gerald Phiri of Texas A&M is headline favorite to win 60. Phiri is currently ranked 3rd in the 60 with a season's best of 6.63 and 2nd in the 200 with automatic qualifying 20.80. Markus Henderson of Texas Tech and Terrell Wilks of Florida will challenge Phiri for the challenge title in the 60.

In the 200 we will likely see another another automatic qualifier added to the list, either Torrin Lawrence of Georgia, Rakieem Salaam and or Antonio Sales of South Carolina. Lawrence comes into the race with most fan fare after having ran a 45.03 last indoor season. Salaam will push Lawrence wire to wire and will have the preferred lane in the race. Sales however has the best time.

Tabarie Henry of Texas A&M should rule the 400. Henry has no real competition in the race as he is the only athlete to run under 46 seconds indoors and outdoors in this race.

The hurdles features some great competition including Oklahoma senior Malcolm Anderson, senior Bryce Brown of Texas Tech, Wayne Davis of Texas A&M and William Wynne of Florida. All have the potential to win the race. Brown has looked the best this entire season and currently leads the NCAA with a time of 7.74, this could be his race to earn the automatic qualifier which is 7.70.

Jumps

This is a pretty competitive field in the high jump that includes to stellar sophomores, Erick Kynard of Kansas State and Ricky Robertson of Ole Miss. Robertson currently leads the NCAA with a leap of 7-5.75, it may come down to who has the fewest misses and Robertson should be the victor.

The long jump will feature triple jump star Christian Taylor of Florida and sensational sophomore Bryce Lamb of Texas Tech. Lamb has the better long jump game and is more suited for the event, Taylor a great triple jumper will have to jump a personal best to beat Lamb. I expect Lamb to win and earn a automatic qualifying mark.

Florida may honestly have the best trio of triple jumpers in the nation. Omar Craddock a sophomore has already qualified for the national championships with his performance two weeks ago at the Nittany Lion Challenge with a leap of 53-1.50. In this event William Claye, the transfer from Oklahoma, may earn his automatic bid as well. Claye has the better talent but Craddock is already hot for the season, Craddock should win with a personal best. Missing from the triple jump is Taylor but will make his presence known in the long jump.

Georgia looks to sweep the men's pole vault with a group that includes two freshman. Paul Malquist and Caleb Ebbetts are the two freshman who are expected to perform well for the Bulldogs, they will look to junior John Smith for leadership. Matt Schuler of South Carolina will look to stop the Georgia sweep and potentially win the event.

Distance

The 800 will be the debut of Georgia star junior Aaron Evans. Evans had a sensational outdoor season last summer with a personal best of 1:46.26 which set a Bermuda national record. No other athlete in the field should be able to dip under 1:50 other Evans.

Dumisane Hlaselo and Derek Wehent of Florida hope to lead a 1-2 finish over Kevin Williams of Oklahoma in the mile. Hlaselo is the South African Junior Record holder in multiple events and will be a great addition to the University of Florida.

James Uthmeier of Florida and Silas Kemboi of Texas Tech will battle it out in the 3,000 meters. Kemboi should prevail because of speed but Uthmeier will be hard to beat with his strong experience in the event after becoming all-conference in the 3,000 meter steeplechase.

Throws

Junior Kemal Mesic of Florida looks to claim the shot put over conference rival Israel Machovec of Georgia. Machovec has not thrown this season but does have a personal best over 60 feet. Mesic is currently ranked 4th in the country with a throw of 62-1.25 and is the clear favorite to win.

The weight throw will be dominated by two athletes, Mike Zajac of South Carolina and KP Singh of Oklahoma. Singh has had the better season so far currently ranked 2nd in the nation with a throw of 69-2.75. Zajac had a better season last year and this maybe the meet were Zajac climbs to the top over Singh.