Mississippi State
SEC Championships (O)
Track And Field Has Brilliant Day At SEC Championships
May 17, 2008 | Track & Field
AUBURN, Ala. ? The Mississippi State track and field teams faired extremely well at the Southeastern Conference Track and Field Championships on Saturday. On the final day of qualifying for event finals, MSU had seven athletes make the cut in their respective events.
"We had a great day today," said MSU head coach Al Schmidt. "Three of our four young men will run in the 400-meter finals and Kendall (May) had a real good showing in the 100. Add that with the two guys in the 1500, and we have a shot at doing real well tomorrow.
"Marrissa (Harris) did a great job in the long jump and will compete in the 100-meter hurdle finals. Dorothy (Youmans) scored in the high jump. This is one of the best days we've had at this meet since I've been here. We just need to close it out tomorrow."
State will send three runners to the men's 400-meter dash finals with O'Neal Wilder (46.46) and Jamil Hubbard (46.59) finishing second and third, respectively and John Bailey (46.67) taking fifth. All three times are regional qualifying marks with Wilder's and Bailey's setting new personal bests for the individuals. Kendall May ran a regional qualifying and personal best 10.35 seconds in the 100-meter dash to take fifth in the opening round.
Of the four runners competing in the men's 1500-meter run, the Bulldogs had two advance to tomorrow's final and all four competitors set personal bests in the event. Matthew Cameron (3:48.40) and Brandon Smith (3:50.92) finished 11th and 12th respectively and take to the track tomorrow for the final. Michael Chapa (3:51.35) and Ben Blakenship (3:51.45) finished 13th and 14th, narrowly missing the final.
State's men had three runners in the 3000-meter steeplechase. Jonathan Rono finished ninth, with Pad Judd following in the 10th position.
Daniel Simpkins set a new personal best in the event. Through three days of competition, the Bulldogs are 10th with six points but have an opportunity to break through with tomorrow's events.
The Lady Bulldogs' third day scoring came from Dorothy Youmans' 5 feet, five inch clearance in the high jump to finish eighth. Junior Marrissa Harris continued her hot streak, finishing fifth in the long jump with a regional qualifying leap of 20-01 ?.
Harris also finished fourth to qualify for the women's 100-meter hurdles final with a regional qualifying time of 13.42 seconds. Bridgett Rose also regional qualified in the event, running 13.91 but did not advance to the final. With nine events scored, the women's squad is ninth with 20 points.
The final day of the 2008 Championships begins tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. CT from the Hutsell-Rosen Track on the University of Auburn campus.
Players Mentioned
