Mississippi State
Penn Relays (O)
MSU Relay Teams Advance To Distinguished Championship Of America At Penn Relays
April 25, 2008 | Track & Field
PHILADELPHIA, Penn. ? For only the second time in program history, the Mississippi State Lady Bulldog track and field team had a relay team advance to the Championship of America at the Penn Relays. Both the men's and women's 4x200-meter relay teams qualified for the event via their finishes in preliminaries held on Friday, April 25, at Franklin Field. The men's 4x400-meter relay team also moves on to the Championship of America.
The women's 4x200-meter relay finished eighth in the preliminaries of the race with sophomore Bridgett Rose, junior Priscilla Gaines, junior Gabrielle Dillon and junior Marrissa Harris, running the second-best time all-time at MSU (one minute, 35.77 seconds). The group will continue their quest for the Championship of America crown tomorrow at 2:25 p.m. (ET).
Following the women's 4x200-meter relay will be the men's 4x200-meter relay team. The quartet of freshman O'Neal Wilder, senior Jamil Hubbard, junior John Bailey and sophomore Kendall May won their heat with a time of 1:23.05 to finish in third overall in the race. They will run tomorrow at 2:40 p.m. (ET) in the Championship of America.
The 4x400-meter relay foursome of Bailey, Hubbard, senior Chris woods and Wilder added another regional qualifying mark to their arsenal, finishing the race in 3:05.72 to take third place. They will also compete in the Championship of America race tomorrow at 5:50 p.m. (ET).
Competing in the Championship of America in the sprint medley, Wilder, Bailey, Hubbard and Woods just missed tasting a Championship of America crown. The relay team finished second with a time of 3:16.83 behind LSU. With their time, the group takes over fourth all-time in the category at MSU.
After earning their first NCAA regional mark of the season in the 4x100-meter relay to advance to the finals of the event, the Lady Bulldogs 4x100 contingent of sophomore LaQuinta Aaron, Dillon, Rose and Gaines, improved on their regional mark, clocking a season-best time of 45.33 to finish in fourth place. With their time, they are now fourth on the all-time list in the 4x100-meter relay at MState.
Harris continued her rewriting of the MSU history books, breaking the 100-meter hurdle record for the second time this season, running a NCAA regional-qualifying and personal-best 13.44 in the preliminaries of the event to finish in ninth. Harris will compete in the finals of the competition tomorrow at 4:05 p.m. (ET).
The men's 4x100-meter relay team of May, Bailey, Hubbard and Wilder picked up a regional qualifying mark in the event with their 11th place time of 40.50. The finals of the event will take place tomorrow at 1:35 p.m. (ET).
In the 400-meter hurdles, senior Kyle Roberts clocked a time of 52.61 to earned 11th place, while freshman Emanuel Mayers finished in the top 25, carding a time of 53.27.
“It was a great job by them (women's 4x200-meter relay),” said MSU Head Coach Al Schmidt. “We are the second seed in the Championship of the America race. It was a great showing. The whole day was great. LaQuinta (Aaron) ran a really good leg in the 4x100. We were happy. Marrissa (Harris) made it to the finals of the 100-meter hurdles. We are just having a good meet. We have more work to do tomorrow though. This is the best Penn Relays that the women have run, team-wise and the men are showing why we are one of the best sprint teams in the county.”
Results from Mississippi State's final day at the Penn Relays can be followed on the MSU Athletics web site at www.mstateathletics.com.
Players Mentioned
