Bulldogs, Lady Bulldogs Travel To Tuscaloosa For Alabama Relays
Alabama Relays Notes
STARKVILLE, Miss. ?€” The Mississippi State University men's and women's outdoortrack and field teams return to action March 17-20 at the Alabama Relays at theSam Bailey Track & Field Complex on the University of Alabama campus inTuscaloosa, Ala.
"This is a big meet for us," said MSU head coach Al Schmidt. "We're going to tryto win the men's team title. They score the relays, so we're going after that.We're still beat up on the women's side. We're just going to do the best we canthere."
Freshman Joseph Queen (Jackson, Miss./Jackson Prep) begins competition in thedecathlon Thursday morning, while senior Jackie Rentschler (Pearl, Miss./Pearl)will run the wonmen's 10,000-meter run Friday evening, followed by sophomoreShelby Nousain (Concord, Mich./Concord) in the men's 10,000-meter run. Theremaining events are scheduled for Saturday and Sunday.
At the first meet of the season, the Bulldogs traveled to Tallahassee, Fla. forthe FSU Snowbird on March 4-5. On the first day of competition, State swept thetop two spots in the long jump with freshman Calvin Wyche (Miami,Fla./Northwestern) taking top honors with a leap of 23-8 3/4. Junior KendallPyant II (Lee's Summit, Mo./Lee's Summit HS) finished second with a jump of23-6 3/4.
The Maroon and White's distance medley relay team ran a winning time of 10minutes, 06.19 seconds. In the sprint medley relay, the Bulldogs won with atime of 3:20.98.
In the final race of the day, freshman John Brigham (Mobile, Ala./St. Paul's HS)was the top collegiate finisher in the 5000-meter run (14:33.65). Brigham, whoran 10 laps of the race without his shoe, finished third overall.
Day two saw the 4x100-meter relay team winning with a regional qualifying markof 40.52. State's 4x400-meter relay squad followed with a winning time of3:07.08, also a regional qualifying mark. In the shot put, sophomore MattWhalen (West Dundee, Ill./Jacobs) won the event with a throw of 55-0, aregional qualifying mark. Senior Matt Denton (Hurley, Miss./East Central) wonthe high jump competition with a leap of 6-8 3/4.
On the women's side, State is returning several experienced athletes from lastseason. Among those included are juniors Meggan Hodge (Beaumont,Alberta/Beaumont Composite), Zita Magloire (Tallahassee, Fla./Lawton Chiles)and Jennifer McPherson (Nampa, Idaho/Skyview). Hodge is the school recordholder in the 3000-meter steeplechase.
Senior Crystal Averitt (Boyd, Texas/Boyd) holds the school record in both thediscus and hammer. Fellow senior Jennifer Johnstone (Chatham,Ontario/Chatham-Kent) and sophomores Christina Hernandez (Asheville, N.C./A.C.Reynolds) and Nicola Wilson (Trenton, N.J./Trenton Central) will add depth inthe throwing events. In jumps, junior Lauren Johnson (Scottsboro,Ala./Scottsboro) will compete in the long jump. Junior Jasmine Walls (Picayune,Miss./Jackson State) is the Lady Bulldogs' lone returning high jumper. Twoseniors, Lacey Johnson (Port St. Joe, Fla./Chipola JC) and Jourdan Steinberg(Mandeville, La./Fotainebleau), are MSU's returning pole vaulters. Johnson isthe school record holder in the event.
Last season in Tuscaloosa, the Lady Bulldogs' distance medley relay team ofMagloire, Nicole Dunn, Tiffany McWilliams and McPherson won in 11:45.91. MSUalso won the 4x1500-meter relay (18:47.44), run by McPherson, Mina Thorstenson,McWilliams and Joy Griffith. On the men's side, J.D. Erickson won the shot put(52-11 1/2).