By Wendell Barnhouse | wendell@big12sports.com
Big12Sports.com Correspondent
The man who has accomplished the only back-to-back doubles in NCAA Track and Field history.
"Anybody that knows anything about track and field knows it's an extremely difficult thing to do," Texas A&M coach Pat Henry said Monday. "We have so many disciplines in the sport - throws, jumps, sprints, distances, hurdles - that it's difficult to have that balance. We've been fortunate, we've got a great group of athletes. Once you get it rolling, it makes it easier. What you think, what you believe you can accomplish, is a huge part of athletics.
"The national championships are about absolute excellence. At the NCAAs, you have world-class athletes and there are three or four or five teams capable of winning. You need to have great performances. If you're good and the other team is great, the other team is gonna win."
Based on that formula, Texas A&M's men's and women's track teams have been great two years running (and jumping and throwing). Last weekend in Eugene, Ore., the Aggies won the NCAA Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championship by a single point while the women's title went to the A&M women, who triumphed in dominant fashion. The twin titles matched last year's championship sweep.
Winning back-to-back titles in both genders had been accomplished once before - 20 years ago, by LSU in 1989 and 1990. Henry was the Tigers' coach then.
A year ago, A&M won both championships at the University of Arkansas. This year's championships were hosted by Oregon, a school with a rich track tradition and with teams fully capable of defeating the Aggies
"If our football team wins at Texas or our basketball team wins at Kansas, those are special moments," Henry. "We were able to go in and beat the home team and that makes it even more special. In our sport, emotions play a huge role. Our women's mile relay team finished a close second but had its best time by four seconds. That's not because we got in better shape in two weeks. That was because of the environment.
"Oregon had a great advantage being at home. For us to win there made it great, great championships for our men and women."
Two weeks ago at the Big 12 Championships, the A&M women won the title while the men finished third behind Nebraska and Oklahoma. The top three teams on the men's side were separated by eight points - or, in track and field terms, a few centimeters and a few tenths of a second. On the men's side the last two years, A&M has won a national championship without winning a Big 12 title.
"The Big 12 is very competitive in the sport," Henry said. "There are great teams in the Big 12. Our championship lines up with any in the country. The Southeastern Conference touts itself as the best … but a Big 12-SEC meet would have been very close. The Big 12 can compete on any level."
The Aggies were No. 1 nationally in both the men's and women's rankings but transferring that into twin trophies involved a steely mind set.
"You can't come in here and say, 'This is going to happen.' You come in here and say, 'We gotta make it happen,'" Henry said.
Henry believes enthusiasm is as important as talent. Under his leadership, A&M has developed a Band Of Brothers And Sisters attitude. The male and female athletes train together and cheer each other. The Aggies have created intra squad competition that breaks camaraderie.
"We have a very good environment here at A&M," Henry said. "What I've worked hard at is making sure that we're a team separated by gender."
The A&M women went to Oregon without two of their top competitors - world-class hurdlers Natasha Ruddock and Gabby Mayo (Mayo also anchored the 4x100 relay team). The Aggies were undeterred.
"It was unfortunate, with Natasha and Gabby out," A&M sprinter Porcha Lucas said. "But we have so much talent on this team. You lose someone, there are three more."
Lucas defended her national championship in the 200-meter dash, finished second in the 100 meters and ran on the winning 4x100 relay team. The Aggies won that event for the fourth consecutive year and Lucas made history by becoming the first female sprinter in NCAA history to run on four consecutive 400 relay championship teams.
Heading into Saturday, Oregon had a 30-26 lead in the women's standings. A&M, though, put up a stunning 46 points on the final day to breeze to the championship. The Aggies finished with 72 points, Oregon with 57.
"That's not a normal thing to get that many points on the final day of the national championship," Henry said. "We have some great female sprinters who lined up and got it done."
A&M didn't capture the men's title until the final hour. A messy handoff in the 4x100 relay cost the Aggies precious points. A&M won what should have been the final event, the 4x400 relay.
But because of scheduling issues, the long jump final was being conducted simultaneously. Florida's Christian Taylor, the triple jump champion, was competing in the long jump and his team needed him to finish second or higher to provide the winning points. He finished fourth, giving the Aggies a 55-54 edge in the final team standings.
"It was a tight situation," Henry said. "I knew it was going to be close. After the 4x100, we lost points there and I knew it was gonna be closer. Had we done everything right, the men could have won like the ladies did. We were fortunate enough to pull it out."
So, to borrow from basketball, how about a triple double - a successful defense of the past two year's championships for the men and the women.
"I'd appreciate if you didn't bring that up," Henry said with a laugh. "It's a process and the process has started again. We lose four ladies and four men. We've got a great under class group, we've got great group of freshmen coming in and I think we can be very good next year."
On this subject, Pat Henry qualifies as an expert witness.