MSU Heads West For Texas Relays; Bulldogs Now Ranked No. 6
And as his squad gears up for this week's 84th Clyde Little Texas Relays in Austin, he sees improvement across the board. Satisfied, though, he's not.
"You want to win relays and be better going into the Texas Relays than we were a year ago," said Dudley, whose team gets underway on Thursday beginning at 4:30 p.m. with 400-meter hurdles prelims. "Last year, we didn't win any relays there, and then we went to the Penn Relays and won three. It's not easy winning those relays, and the way we train, we usually end up better at the end of the year than at the beginning."
MSU makes the trek to the Lone Star State following a dominating performance at the Bulldog Twilight Invitational this past weekend. However, the level of competition will be much higher this week, as all the top teams across the country will be competing.
With better competition comes higher expectations from Dudley. But then again, he knows he doesn't have to build this event up for his athletes because they understand the importance of this event.
"Outside of the Penn Relays, this is the biggest regular-season meet there is," he said.
The Bulldogs return to the track with great momentum, especially on the women's side.
Dudley was quick to point out the performances of Richesa McCaleb and Haley Greenwell early in the outdoor season.
At the SEC/Big 10 Challenge two weeks ago, McCaleb set personal bests in the 200- and 100-meter dashes with times of 23.56 and 11.80, respectively, while Greenwell had a personal best time of 16:40.45 in the 5,000-meter run this past weekend at the Twilight Invitational.
"Last year, I always thought Richesa could be better," Dudley said. "She's showing that this year, and she's been as big of a surprise as there's been. As for Haley, her percentage of improvement has been amazing. She's really having a strong outdoor season."
MSU Men Move Up In The Polls
After opening the season ranked No. 8 nationally, the Bulldogs moved up two spots to No. 6 in Tuesday's latest USTFCCA poll.
Sophomore standout Tavaris Tate produced the highest ranking, coming in tied for No. 2 in the 400-meter dash. In addition, the 4x400-meter relay squad is No. 3, followed by the 4x100 team at No. 6.
In the 100-meter dash, junior D'Angelo Cherry is No. 3, while freshman James Harris stands at No. 5 in the high jump.
"I'm happy to have the athletes get themselves into a position to be No. 6 in the country," MSU coach Steve Dudley said. "But as always our main goal is to get the job done in June."
Although the Lady Bulldogs aren't ranked as a team, Jody-Ann Muir is No. 17 in the 400m dash while senior Jessica Merriweather is 18th in the high jump.
Men's Rankings
100m Dash
3. D'Angelo Cherry
12. Kendall May
200m Dash
28. Tavaris Tate
28. Kendall May
400m Dash
2. Tavaris Tate
8. O'Neal Wilder
32. James Harris
48. Emanuel Mayers
400m Hurdles
7. Emanuel Mayers
High Jump
5. James Harris
26. Marcus Jackson
Decathlon
46. Tevarus Christian
4x100m Relay
6. MSU
4x400m Relay
3. MSU
Women's Rankings
200m Dash
42. Taneisha Baker
44. Richesa McCaleb
400m Dash
17. Jody-Ann Muir
100m Hurdles
26. Keisha Wallace
High Jump
18. Jessica Merriweather
Triple Jump
41. Rochelle Farquharson
Heptathlon
48. Racquel Farquharson
4x100m Relay
43. MSU
4x400m Relay
26. MSU