ELON, N.C. – There were a few results the North Carolina A&T men's outdoor track and field team thought would go their way at the 2024 Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Elon University's Jerry and Jeanne Robertson Complex.
If those results had gone as planned, perhaps the Aggies would be standing in the winner's circle in the 2024 CAA championships. Unfortunately, they did not. The Aggies made a tremendous second-day surge on Saturday, scoring 123 points, but they fell short and finished fourth with 126 points.
After finishing seven points shy of winning the CAA indoor title, the men were 14 ½ points shy of conference champion Northeastern (140.5). Campbell finished second (137.5) and Monmouth placed third (127.5). On the women's side, the Aggies finished seventh with 54 points. Northeastern also claimed the women's outdoor conference title, followed by Elon (111) and Hampton (105) in the top 3.
The Aggie men had potential for more points but got disqualified for a violation in the 4x100 relay, and they had lower finishes in the long jump than expected. Yet, the men captured conference titles in the 110 hurdles, the discus, and the 400 hurdles. The women secured gold in the 100H and the 800 meters.
The Aggie men had four athletes score in the 110H and 400H. Redshirt freshman Jason Holmes was the 110H favorite and did not disappoint by running 13.48. After running a program-record 13.43 at Penn Relays two weeks ago, Holmes now owns the top two 110H times in program history, with three more years remaining.
A&T scored 24 points in the event. Sophomore Thomas Smith (13.85) scored six points to finish third, followed by five points from freshman Isaiah Thomas (14.01), who placed fourth, and three points from senior Aveon Reid (14.47), who placed sixth. Reid secured the Aggies 10 more points in the 400H.
Reid captured his second career outdoor conference title by winning the 400H with a personal-record time 50.27. Reid will now prepare for the NCAA Division I East Preliminary, May 22-25, as he improved his ranking in the Region to 10th. Reid won the 4x400-meter relay Big South Conference outdoor title in 2022.
Isaiah Taylor will join Reid at regionals after running a PR of 51.30 on Saturday to finish third. He is ranked 27th regionally. Isaiah's twin brother Xzaviah Taylor (51.49) posted five additional points for the Aggies by also setting a PR and positioning himself for a regional appearance. He ranks 37th in the East. Xzaviah Taylor was followed in sixth place by Smith's 53.30.
A&T won three of the four hurdles races on Saturday, with Lucheyona Weaver capturing the women's 100H. Weaver posted 10 points for the ladies by running a 13.28. Weaver also won the CAA 60H indoor title in February. A year ago, she finished second behind teammate and A&T hurdles great Paula Salmon before emerging and coming to the forefront as the Aggies leader in the event.
The other women's title came in the 800m from junior Fajr Kelly. Kelly ran an outdoor PR of 2:06.72. It marked Kelly's third outdoor title and her first in the 800. She helped the Aggies win the CAA outdoor 4x400 in 2023 and the Big South outdoor 4x400 in 2022.
The men's chances of winning a CAA title improved when junior Brayden Hodgest and Carlos Alexander finished first and second in the discus. The duo added 18 points to A&T's total, with Hodgest winning the event with a throw of 166 feet, 3 ¼ inches. Hodgest's win marks his third conference outdoor title and seventh overall after winning the CAA indoor shot put title in February.
In the shot put, Alexander and Hodgest added 14 more points when they finished second and third. Alexander's best throw landed at 55 feet, 6 ¼ inches for eight points, while Hodgest's best throw measured at 54 feet, 4 ¾ inches.
A&T's men continued to collect points from the field as freshman Xavier Partee jumped an outdoor-best 48 feet, 10 inches to finish second in the triple jump to give the Aggies an additional eight points. Junior Joseph Palmer scored five points by placing fourth, measuring 48 feet, 5 ½ inches. Kendrell Goodes added eight points in the men's high jump.
Goodes jumped a PR of 6 feet, 9 ¾ inches to finish second behind Campbell's Charles McBride II, who jumped a meet-record 7 feet, 2 ¼ inches. Goodes finished shy of Odell Benders, Jr.'s program record of 6 feet, 10 ¼ inches.
Hodgest and Holmes led the Aggies with 16 points apiece as Holmes placed third in the men's 200m with a PR of 20.89. Reid contributed 14.5 points after helping the men's 4x400 relay team of the Taylor twins and freshman Caleb Gurnell in 3:11.98.
Junior Pebbles Scott led the effort on the women's side, contributing 14 points. She placed second in the women's 100 at 11.53 before finishing fifth in the 200m (23.80). Along with Weaver and freshmen Kymara Brodie and Makenna Urbanek, she also helped the 4x100 team to a second-place finish (44.71).
