MSU Track Readies For NCAA Indoor Championships
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- Heading to Fayetteville with shots at individual national championships is the Mississippi State track teams. The NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships begin Friday at the University of Arkansas.
The Bulldogs' 13th-ranked men's team has three competitors in two events on the weekend. State's 17th-ranked women have one individual and one relay team scheduled to run on the weekend. Both teams have a top-ranked individual in the field.
Head coach Al Schmidt has sophomore Tiffany McWilliams set to run in the mile on the weekend. The Red Bay, Ala., native has the top time in the country at that distance and is rated first in Trackwire.com's Dandy Dozen listings.
McWilliams is also set to anchor the distance medley relay team that MSU's women have qualified. The team of Jennifer McPherson, Nicole Dunn, Zita Magloire and McWilliams broke the school record at the Rod McCravy Memorial in February and won the event two weekends ago at the SEC Championships.
For State's men, junior Marquis Davis leads the team. The school's record holder in the 200m indoors and co-record-holder in the 60m, Davis is the only Bulldog scheduled to run in two races on the weekend. The two-time all-American automatically qualified in both short sprints at the Rod McCravy Memorial. He is only one of two individuals in the Trackwire Dandy Dozen in both the 60m and 200m.
Senior Pierre Browne is the men's other automatic qualifier, with a top time of 6.61 in the 60-meter dash. The 2000 Canadian Olympian is ranked first in the country in the event in the Trackwire Dandy Dozen.
Sophomore Glenn McFadden will run in his first NCAA championship as an individual. The New Haven, Conn., native was accepted into the field in the 200m. He ranks fourth on MSU's all-time indoor 200m list.
Events begin Friday in the Randal Tyson Track Center at 12 noon with the men's weight throw. The first event for Mississippi State will be the men's 60-meter dash preliminaries at 6 p.m.