Track & Field Begins Road To Championships
STARKVILLE, Miss. – After months of hard work, the road to the championships begins Thursday for the Mississippi State track and field teams.
MSU athletes will compete for the coveted 12 spots in each event at the NCAA East Preliminaries to send them to Eugene, Ore., for the Championships.
“We have a lot of talented athletes who have worked hard all season long to get to this point,” MSU coach Steve Dudley said. “This is where the season continues or ends for our athletes. They are all determined to get to the next level.”
First up in Jacksonville, Fla., will be the women’s 400m hurdles with MSU school record holder Ocian Archer and teammate Ste'yce McNeil at 4:30 p.m. ET on Thursday. The men’s event will follow at 5 p.m. with SEC 400m Hurdles Champion Scottie Hearn and teammate Jovan Davis.
Reigning NCAA 800m champion and SEC 800m runner-up Brandon McBride will be looking to get back to defend his title in the event Thursday evening.
With a time of 4:18.32 at the SEC Championships, Rhianwedd Price was the SEC Runner-Up, while Marta Freitas (4:19.38) finished third, respectively. Both are set to compete in the event this weekend.
At the SEC Championships, both Shayla Luckett and Alfred Larry ran a personal-best in the 400m dash and will hope to improve their times in the event on Thursday.
Concluding action for the Bulldogs on Thursday night will be distance runner Damian Roszko in the 10,000m run. His personal-best time of 29:25.35 came earlier this season at the Mt. SAC Relays.
Field events for the Maroon and White begin Friday with Sasha-Gaye Marston in the discus throw. Also competing in the field will be Marcus Jackson, Erica Bougard and Logan Boss in the high jump. Bougard is set to compete in the 100m hurdles along with McNeil.
On the track, Cornelia Griesche, SEC 3000m Steeplechase Runner-Up, will be competing in the event Friday night.
Competition will take place at Hodges Stadium on the campus of the University of North Florida.
Both MSU teams enter the preliminaries ranked in the Top 25. The men are No. 8, while the women are No. 15 in the country.
For more information on the MSU track and field teams visit HailState.com and follow on Twitter (@HailStateTF).