Texas A&M’s track and field teams won the second straight outdoor national title, although the two teams took different routes to get there. The Aggie women won 72 points over the weekend, defeating second place Oregon by 15 points.

With 72 points, the women’s team scored the most points at an NCAA meet since South Carolina scored 82 in 2002.

With 55 points, the Aggies were just able to edge the Florida Gators, who scored 54. Oregon  finished third with 45 points in the three-day event.

“Our program is where we want it to be right now,” Texas A&M Head Coach Pat Henry said. “Next year we hope we have another season where we are in the mix. As long as we are in this top group, that’s really important for us in the development of our program.”

This is not the first time that a team has claimed back-to-back national championships in men’s and women’s track and field. The first team to do it was Louisiana State U in 1989-1990. The two teams share one common denominator: Henry at the helm.

“This is a pretty special group,” Henry said. “They didn’t stop or quit until the whole thing was over. That’s how you get it done at this kind of meet.”

The men needed some events to go a certain way to take a second title. With two events left to complete, the Aggies were square with Oregon as both teams had 45 points. Florida sat in third with 43 points.

With a time of 3:00.89 in the 4×400 meter relay, the Aggies were finally able to take first place, ending a streak of three straight years in the second spot.

“I had my doubts [about winning the meet],” senior Tabarie Henry said. “In my head I was doing calculations that they still had someone in the shot put and long jump still and we messed up on the 4×100. All we had left was the 4×400.

“In my mind I thought let’s just go win this 4×4 for the team, not knowing we were still in the hunt. Then, Coach Henry told us before the race to go out and win it, if we do then we have a shot to win the team title.”

With Christian Taylor of Florida needing to complete the long jump, the Aggies waited, holding a 55-49 lead over the Gators.

Taylor fouled on his first two attempts, but ended his fourth attempt with a jump of 25 feet, 6 inches. The distance was good enough for fourth place, giving the Gators five points. Taylor was 6 inches way from finishing in third place, which would have given the Gators a tie with the Aggies at the top.

The Aggie women controlled the final day from beginning to end, scoring 46 of the 72 points on Saturday. Nearly half the points on the day, 22, came from one event–the 200 meters.

Senior Porscha Lucas won the event with a time of 22.83, while teammate Jeneba Tarmoh finished in second place with a time of 22.92. Dominique Duncan rounded out the points for the Aggies, finishing with 23.48. It was the Aggies’ third straight 200 meters title, with Lucas winning in 2009 and Simone Facey winning in 2008.

Lucas had another major accomplishment earlier in the day, as she, Tarmoh, Duncan and Jessica Beard won the 4×100 meter relay. With the victory, Lucas became the first female sprinter in NCAA history to be part of four consecutive 4×100 winning relays.

“To win the 4×100 for the fourth consecutive year, a 200 title for a second time and then to add a second place in the 100, I feel so blessed right now,” Lucas said. “I couldn’t be happier with how I ended the meet and we were able to win another team championship.”