Texas A&M's men to send 13 entries to NCAA Outdoor Championships

Branding...in front of the 12th Man, no less.

On the third day of the 2025 West First Round at E.B. Cushing Stadium, Texas A&M punched 12 more tickets to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Oregon.

Along with pole vaulter Aleksandr Solovev, Pat Henry’s men will have 13 total entries in the national meet, which will be contested from June 11-14 at historic Hayward Field.

“I think this proves we can be very competitive,” the legendary head coach said. “This is a heck of a competitive situation here, and our guys came out on top. They ran well. We looked good today.”

Based on numbers and top-end talent, this A&M men’s squad is believed to be a title contender in two weeks' time.

With a clearance of 5.42m (17-9.25) on Wednesday, Solovev was the first to secure his spot in Eugene.

As the attention turned to Friday, A&M’s 4x100m quartet of Ja’Qualon Scott, Ernest Campbell, Mason Mangum and Auhmad Robinson finished third in their heat with a season-best time of 38.96 to book a trip to the Pacific Northwest.

”Everything I’ve done led to this very moment, and me being able celebrate this moment with the guys, just seeing all the looks on everybody’s faces, I feel like it’s a dream come true,” Scott said. “We’re definitely in the conversation for the title. That’s No. 1, but as of today, we’ve just got to take it step by step, day by day. We can’t think too far forward. We can’t look back in the past. We just got to get ready for what’s next, and that’s practice on Monday.”

To bookend the night’s festivities, the 4x400m group of Hossam Hatib, Cutler Zamzow, Kimar Farquharson and Robinson qualified by winning the third heat with a relay of 3:02.58.

Of the baton-passers, a number are also advancing in individual events.

Scott will run both the 110m and 400m hurdles at Heyward after winning his heats at 13.16 and 48.87. Joining him in the longer difficulty will be Bryce McCray, who narrowly snagged an auto-big in Heat 1 with a personal-best of 49.56.

Campbell ran a wind-aided 10.02 in the 100m to post the top “next best” time to advance as a rookie.

Robinson heads a trip of quarter-milers who will seek to score at nationals, as Hatib and Zamzow will join him in Eugene. A&M’s 400m men posted times of 45.57, 45.85 and 45.93, respectively, and Zamzow snagged the final qualifying spot by one hundredth of a second over New Mexico’s Brodie Young.

Will Huffman, TexAgs

Auhmad Robinson helped both relay teams claim a spot in Eugene to go along with his individual ticket in the 400m.

“Three for three,” Robinson said. “Went out there and got a big Q for each event. Just give all the glory to God, and I’m happy overall.

”Ain’t nothing like Hayward. Talk soon, you know the motto, man.”

In the 800m, senior All-American Sam Whitmarsh cruised to a Heat 3 victory and posted the second-fastest time of the evening with a 1:46.68 to book his return to nationals.

Cooper Cawthra and Victor Kibiego advanced in their events, running 3:40.15 in the 1,500m and a season-best 8:32.83 in the 3,000m Steeplechase, respectively.

Of A&M’s 17 Friday entries on the men’s side, only five failed to advance to the next round. That’s a wildly successful day for Henry’s men and should allow the Aggies to fight for the program’s first outdoor national title since 2013.

“More importantly than anything is we leave healthy,” Henry said. “We don’t have anybody go down. We don’t have anybody that’s got a bad hamstring. We don’t have any of that right now, and that’s a testament to this team. That’s the thing I’m probably as much pleased with right now moving forward.”

The West First Round concludes on Saturday, as A&M’s women will have 18 opportunities to advance to the national meet when action continues with field events at 1 p.m. before track events resume at 5 p.m.