Broughton, Henderson Look to NCAA Indoor Championships

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Mississippi State track and field's Shayla Broughton and Jesse Henderson are set to compete in the 2021 NCAA DI Indoor National Championships, hosted by the University of Arkansas at the Randal Tyson Track Center from March 11-13.

"I expect us to do the same things we've done to get to the Championships," said head coach Chris Woods on what he expects from this weekend. "Nine times out of ten, when you do that and you're relaxed, having fun, and are confident in your abilities, the performances will speak for themselves and they'll be able to reach their goals."

Broughton, a redshirt senior from Brooklyn, New York, will be competing in the pentathlon at this year's Indoor Championships. She came into the season ranking third all-time for Mississippi State in pentathlon point totals with 3,966 points at the 2020 SEC Indoor Championships. She bumped herself up to No. 2 all-time scoring 4,090 points at the Music City Challenge after placing first in four of the five events. Broughton also replaced many of her personal bests in that performance and would ultimately finish first in the pent.

"You just focus on one event at a time," said Broughton of the pentathlon. "You can't think about what's going to happen next or what happened in the last event, you just have to focus on one at a time."

She will compete first for the Bulldogs this weekend, with the pentathlon taking place on Thursday, March 11. The first event of the five, the 60m hurdles, are set to start at 11:30 a.m. in Fayetteville.

Henderson, a junior from Benton, Mississippi, will be competing in the 60m hurdles at the Championships. This season, he has cut down his time from 7.85 to 7.74, breaking the school record at the USC Indoor Open. The previous record was a converted 55m hurdles time of 7.829 from 1992, set by Anthony Greer.

"I just really want to enjoy the experience, compete at my highest level, and break my record I already hold," said Henderson. "That's the goal for this weekend."

He will compete on day two and three of the meet, March 12 and 13. The semifinals are slated for 2:15 p.m. on Friday, with the finals set to start at 2:30pm on Saturday.

The meet will be broadcast on ESPN3 all three days of competition, with live results provided by Flash Results. A full recap of each day of competition can be found at HailState.com after the conclusion of the events.

Next Up for the Bulldogs
With the completion of the indoor season for Mississippi State, the Dawgs look to the start of the outdoor season. It will start in Raleigh, North Carolina, this season with NC State's Raleigh Relays, scheduled for March 25 through 27. It will be a split-meet weekend as well, with the Al Schmidt Bulldog Relays scheduled for March 26 and 27 in Starkville.

For more information on the Bulldog track and field program, search "@HailStateTF" on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Broughton, Henderson Look to NCAA Indoor Championships

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Players Mentioned

Shayla Broughton

Jesse Henderson

Mississippi State University Athletics