EAST GREENSBORO – It's time for indoor conference championship time for the North Carolina A&T Aggies, which has come to mean trophies lately for both A&T indoor teams.
The North Carolina A&T indoor track and field athletes are in a great position heading into the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Indoor Track and Field Championships this week at the Virginia Beach Sports Center in Virginia Beach, Va. Both the A&T men and women hold more No. 1 rankings than any other rival – six for each team for a total of 12.
It marks the inaugural indoor track and field championships for the CAA, which begins on Wednesday at 9 a.m. with the men's weight throw and heptathlon 60-meter dash. Day one will see field event champions crowned in the men's weight throw, pentathlon (9:10 a.m.), women's pole vault (11:30 a.m.), men's long jump (11:30 a.m.), women's weight throw (12:30 p.m.), women's long jump (2:30 p.m.) and men's pole vault (4 p.m.).
Running prelims start at 12:30 p.m., with the last four events of the day – women's 5000m (5:50 p.m.), men's 5000m (6:10 p.m.), women's distance medley relay (6:30 p.m.) and men's distance medley relay (6:45 p.m.) – awarding points and medals as finals.
Championship Thursday begins at 9 a.m. as the Heptathlon resumes with the 60-meter hurdles. Field events start at 10 a.m. with the men's shot put, women's high jump and men's triple, while the gun goes off at noon for the running event finals, beginning with the women's mile.
While indoor championships are new for the CAA, they are not for A&T. The men have won four of the last five indoor conference championships it has competed in over the previous six years. The women have won five straight conference indoor championships, including last year's Big South Conference indoor title.
Holding up to their title as "Sprinter U," the A&T men and women are leading the 200 meters, 400m, 4X400-meter relay, and 60-meter hurdle events. Beyond the sprints, however, both teams also claim No. 1 in the shot put, and the men lead the long jump while the women have the top spot in the 800m.
The men come into the competition ranked 50th in the nation in the latest United States Track and Field Cross Country Coaches (USTFCCA) poll. They finished second in the nation last season at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in Birmingham, Ala.
Junior Reheem Hayles, senior Shemar Chambers and junior Brandon Nya are some of the key players in the men's CAA rankings. Chambers (20.96), Nya (21.41), and Hayles (21.52) hold first, second, and third in the 200m. Hayles (45.95) and Chambers (46.37) have the best two times in the 400m. Hayles enters the indoor conference championships ranked ninth in the country in the 400m, almost assuring him a spot in the NCAA indoor championships in March.
Chambers, Nya, and Hayles are three-fourths of the conference's top 4x400 relay team alongside UNC transfer Ryan Saint-Germain. The men have come in with a conference-best 3:06.46.
Freshman Jason Holmes has the top seed in the men's 60H at 7.69. Just behind him, Northeastern's Ethan Exilhomme has recorded a 7.71, which could make for a good show this week. Holmes is in a seven-way tie for the No. 8 spot in the country, and Exilhomme is ranked 18th with four others. So if Holmes can lower his time at conference championships, he should also be headed to nationals.
Meanwhile, Aeneas Reed is the CAA's long-jump favorite, having leaped 23-feet, 9 ½-inches at the 2023 Carolina Challenge hosted by the University of South Carolina (USC), and Brayden Hodgest rules the shot put rankings with his indoor personal-best throw of 56-feet, 10-inches.
Like the men's team, the women's team has a few athletes doing double duty. Graduates Jada Griffin and Ayoola Gbolade and sophomore Pebbles Scott have helped the Aggie women land most of their top seeds going into the CAA championships. Griffin holds No. 1 in the 200m and 400m with qualifying times of 23.88 and 53.03, and Gbolade is ranked first in the 800m with a mark of 2:06.86. Scott is ranked No. 2 in the 400m in 54.89.
Griffin, Gbolade, and Scott are also on the top-ranking 4x400 relay team with sophomore Fajr Kelly. The ladies have a conference-best time of 3:36.40.
Graduate Paula Salmon (8.19) is ranked No. 1 in the 60H, followed by sophomore Lucheyona Weaver (8.21) at No. 2. Salmon is the defending Big South champion in the event, breaking the conference's championship record with a run of 8.15. She is a two-time All-American in the hurdles.
Rounding things out in the field, senior Julieth Nwosu is leading the women's shot put with nearly a five-foot gap between her and the CAA's No. 2 seed. Nwosu's current qualifying mark of 54-feet, 6 ½-inches, is also the North Carolina A&T school record for women.
