Mississippi State
SEC Championships (O)
MSU Men Win 4x100 Relay Title And Finish 7th On Final Day Of SEC Championships
May 16, 2010 | Track & Field
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - On their last day at Tom Black Track at LaPorte Stadium, the Mississippi State men's and women's track teams didn't hold anything back. MSU's men's team scored 64 team points to finish the weekend tied for seventh place with Arkansas, with the highlight being the 4x100 relay team claiming medalist honors.
"I think we had a great meet, and everybody contributed on both sides for us this weekend," MSU head coach Al Schmidt said. "We had some great races out of both the men and the women."
The Bulldogs point total is 20 more than their total points scored at last year's championships. The Lady Bulldogs scored 36 team points to finish 11th.
Florida scored 124 points to claim the men's team title, while LSU finished second with 100 points and South Carolina scored 89 points for third.
LSU took the women's team crown scoring 132 points, and Florida was runner-up with 107.5.
The Bulldogs started the day off winning an SEC Championship crown in the 4x100-meter relay. Justin Christian, Kendall May, Dwight Mullings and Tavaris Tate ran 39.09 seconds to win the event in season best fashion.
It was the first time under Schmidt's tenure MSU won this event.
"We wanted every time we passed the stick to try and get a little bit more distance between us and the next guy, to help out our next man," said Justin Christian, who ran the first leg for the Bulldogs. "We executed, did good work and we won; it paid off. Every week, we're just working to get to the next level; keep it moving all the way to Eugene."
More top performances were in store for MSU as the 4x400-meter relay team of O'Neal Wilder, Emanuel Mayers, Mullings and Tate finished in second place after a 3:04.15 performance.
MSU collected 17 team points in the 400-meter dash finals as Tate, a freshman from Starkville, finished second in 45.16 seconds with Wilder right behind him in third (45.24) and Mullings in sixth (46.07).
"The 400 was a great race," Schmidt said. "Anytime you can collect that many points in one race it's a great thing to watch."
In the hurdle events, Mayers finished second in the 400 hurdles (51.05) and fifth in the 110 hurdles (14.52).
The day only seemed to get better for the Bulldogs as Mullings finished sixth in the 200-meter dash, Ed Weslea threw 163-06 to finish seventh in the discus, May finished eighth in the 100-meter dash and Patrick Johnson cleared 15-11 to finish eighth in the pole vault.
"All of our men contributed for us today," Schmidt said. "They just did great and our seniors ended their SEC career with some great performances."
Mayers collected 14 points for MSU, the 10th most by an individual player this weekend, while Tate's 12.5 points ranked 11th.
The Lady Bulldogs top performance of the day came from freshman Jody-Ann Muir. She finished third in her first ever SEC 400-meter dash finals in veteran fashion. The Jamaican product bettered her prelim best and crossed the line in a MSU freshman record 52.75 seconds.
"Jody-Ann did a magnificent job for us today, and ran one great race," Schmidt said.
In the relays, Crystal Wilson, LaQuinta Aaron, Muir and Taneisha Baker broke their previous school record set two weeks ago in the 4x400-meter relay, running 3:36.43 to finish fourth, while the 4x100-meter relay foursome, Wilson, Wendy Copeland, Baker and Richesa McCaleb ran a season best 45.42 seconds to finish sixth.
"We had some great races on the women's side," Schmidt said. "Our 4x4 relay team had the highest finish in school history at an SEC meet in addition to their school record."
Keisha Wallace also collected points for MSU in the 100-meter hurdle final where she finished fourth.
"Obviously, as a team we would have liked to finish higher, but it was a great end to a long weekend," Schmidt said. "Now we can close out our SEC year and get ready for the first round of the NCAA Championships."
MSU competes again May 28-29 in the preliminary rounds of the NCAA Outdoor Championships hosted by North Carolina A&T University in Greensboro, N.C.
Players Mentioned
