Track and Field Travels To The Plains For 2008 SEC Championships
STARKVILLE, Miss. ? The Mississippi State men’s and women’s track and field teams begin competition at the 2008 Southeastern Conference Track and Field Championships on Thursday afternoon. The event continues through Sunday afternoon at the Hutsell-Rosen Track on the University of Auburn campus. Fox Sports South will air portions of the 2008 Championships on Saturday, May 24 beginning at 6 p.m.CT. SportSouth will re-broadcast the event during the month of June.
In the nation’s toughest track and field conference, this weekend’s meet provides teams a chance to make a statement heading into the postseason. Currently, seven of the league’s 11 competing men’s teams are ranked among the nation’s top 25. On the women’s side half of the conference’s 12 teams are ranked. A year ago, both MState squads finished 11th and are looking to improve on that mark this year.
“I believe our men's team is one of the elite teams in the country and is an SEC quality group,” said MSU head coach Al Schmidt. “We are one of the top five sprint groups from 100-800 meters. The women's team has made huge improvements this year and is prepared to be a force nationally in the future.”
State’s sprint corps continues to dominate this season. The Bulldogs have posted 26 individual regional qualifying marks this season and qualified in relay events a total of 12 times.
In both the 4x100- and 4x400-meter relays, the Bulldogs are ranked in the top 10 in the country. State’s eighth-ranked 4x1 team of Kendall May, John Bailey, Jamil Hubbard and O’Neal Wilder ran 39.62 to win the Bulldog Invitational title earlier this year. The time is the third fastest in the Mideast Regional. At the prestigious Texas Relays, Chris Woods, Hubbard, Bailey and Wilder combined to run 3:05.28 in the 4x4, ranking sixth nationally and second in the region.
Individually, Woods has the conference and region’s third fastest 800-meter time, running 1:48.40 at the Bulldog Invitational. The time ranks the senior 11th nationally. Teammate Golden Coachman, the school’s record holder in the event, is seeking to improve on his third-place finish in the event at last year’s meet in Tuscaloosa.
In the 400-meter dash, senior Hubbard ranks 12th nationally after posting his season-best time of 46.05 at the Bulldog Limited in Athens, Ga. Hubbard’s time is the best in the SEC this season and second-best in the region. Hubbard is also scheduled to compete in the 200-meter dash, an event he ranks among the top 10 in the conference with his 20.92 time posted at the year’s first meet. Wilder will also compete in the 200- and 400-meters. His best 400 time of the season is the conference and region’s fourth-best at 46.35.
Sophomore May will be MSU’s representative in the 100-meter dash. His best time of the year came at the Ole Miss Invitational where he clocked 10.39. In the men’s 400-meter hurdles, senior Kyle Roberts (52.02) and Emanuel Mayers (52.05) will look to provide MSU with scoring outside the sprinting events. Junior Allen Cassell leaped seven feet, one-quarter inch at the Bulldog Invitational to qualify for the Mideast Regional. Cassell’s jump is the second-best in the league this season and ranks in the top 10 regionally.
On the women’s side, the Lady Bulldogs have tallied 13 individual regional qualifying marks and two relay teams have accomplished the task.
All-SEC candidate Marrissa Harris continues to rewrite the record books in her junior season. The Memphis, Tenn.,-native has broken her own 100-meter hurdles record two times this season with the school’s current standard of 13.44 seconds coming at the Penn Relays. Harris ranks 25th nationally in the event. She has also qualified regionally in the long jump with her season and personal-best leap of 20-04 ? netting a second-place finish at the Penn Relays.
Bridgett Rose ran 13.68 in the 100-meter hurdles at the Ole Miss Invitational and will join Harris in the event. In addition to Harris, the long jump competition will feature sophomore Wendy Copeland (20-01 ?) and junior Priscilla Gaines (20-01 ?). The duo ranks in the top 10 league-wise in the event.
State’s 4x100-meter relay team of Laquinta Aaron, Gabrielle Dillon, Bridgett Rose and Gaines ran 45.56 during qualifying of the event at the Penn Relays. It marked the first time an MSU women’s relay team qualified for the regional meet since going to the format. The quartet went on to finish fourth in the event, besting their time to 45.33.
Following this weekend’s meet, regional qualifiers continue their season the NCAA Mideast Regional at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, May 30-31.