Freshman focused on having fun and enjoying team environment during exceptional first month of Aggies’ career, which includes 600-meter collegiate record, personal-best 800 and second-fastest 4x400 relay split in history

By Mary Albl of DyeStat

The Instagram caption on January 15 read, “The real fun begins tomorrow. #yearnumerouno”.

The accompanying photo features a grinning Athing Mu in a Texas A&M jacket, her pearly whites radiating from the image; it’s her first collegiate track and field profile picture.

The following day, the freshman phenom from Trenton, N.J., who, in 2019, set the American women’s indoor 600-meter record in 1:23.57 to win the USATF Indoor Championships, made her long-awaited collegiate debut in style, and what appeared to be a lot of fun.

Mu, 18, collected her first win as an Aggie at the Ted Nelson Invitational, setting the American U-20 800-meter record by clocking 2:01.07. The very next weekend at the Aggie Invitational, she broke a 40-year-old collegiate record in the 600, running 1:25.80.

“Going into the race, I didn’t really have a time in mind and I just wanted to come out here to have fun,” Mu said. “With people having the idea that I ran an American record two years ago, that kind of put a little bit of pressure on me, but I just wanted to go out there and have fun.”

Fun seems to be the operative word this indoor season for Mu, as she’s been off to an historic start, setting records in each meet she’s competed in thus far. This Saturday at the Charlie Thomas Invitational, Texas A&M’s last home meet of the indoor season, she’ll look to continue her winning ways and she’s scheduled to run the open 400, and likely to contribute again to the 4x400 relay. 

The Aggies’ biggest recruit of the Class of 2020, Mu has made a seamless transition to the next level.

Her 2:01.07 currently ranks second in the world behind British 18-year-old standout Keely Hodgkinson, who set the World U-20 record Jan. 30 by running 1:59.03 in Austria. Mu now ranks third all-time in the indoor 800 among World U-20 competitors.

Mu also ranks No. 2 all-time in Aggie history behind collegiate indoor record holder Jazmine Fray (2:00.69).

In addition to setting the collegiate 600 record Jan. 23 at the Aggie Invitational, Mu also clocked a 50.94 split on the second leg of the 4x400 relay.

She lowered that time Jan. 30 at the Texas Tech Invitational, anchoring the 4x400 to victory in 3:31.09 with a blazing 50.02-second anchor-leg split. The time was the fastest indoor 4x400 split in American history and second-fastest all-time in the world, trailing only Russian athlete Natalyza Nazarova, who split 49.89 at the 2004 World Indoor Championships in Hungary.

Mu, who ran for the Trenton Track Club in high school, has worked primarily with assistant coach Milton Mallard, who was big in her recruitment process.

“I love Coach Mallard so much, he is such a funny guy,” Mu said. “He makes practice fun and brings a lot of diversity when it comes to practice. We work distance, short stuff and fast work, he mixes it up well and I enjoy that because that was the one thing that I appreciated with my coach prior to Texas A&M. Coming here and having a similar style of training helped out a lot.”

The 5-foot-10 middle distance runner said her pacing has been a big improvement she’s noticed the past couple of months since arriving in College Station.

“It’s allowed me to grow more confident than I have ever been,” she said. “I know that I’m strong now and I can go into races knowing that I can finish the way I want to finish.”

Mu, who is majoring in kinesiology, had opportunities to turn professional, but opted for the collegiate experience. One of the main reasons Mu credits is the environment, one she is clearly flourishing in and enjoying thus far.

Mu and the Aggies will wrap up their home schedule this Saturday, and then hit the road Feb. 12-13 for the Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark., as well as the Southeastern Conference Championships on Feb. 25-27, also at Randal Tyson Track Center, in preparation for the NCAA Division 1 Indoor Championships, scheduled for March 11-13 at the same venue.

“The team environment is very supportive, they really care no matter what group you’re in and I appreciate that a lot,” Mu said. “It’s been great to have that team environment and build those relationships with people that I will know the rest of my life.”