Bulldogs Start Season With Three Wins At FSU Snowbird
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.?€”The Mississippi State University men's outdoor track and field squad opened 2005 competition on Friday afternoon at the FSU Snowbird with three wins at the Florida State-hosted meet. Freshman Calvin Wyche (Miami, Fla./Northwestern HS) started his Maroon and White career off with a victory in the long jump and MSU picked up wins in the distance and sprint medley relays.
"Elzie (Coleman) lived up to his expectation today," said MSU Head Coach Al Schmidt. "It was also a great start for Calvin (Wyche) as a freshman. John (Brigham) is going to be a star in this league. He ran a great race, and we had four guys run the 5000-meters in under 15 minutes."
In the meet's first men's event, the long jump, State swept the top two spots with Wyche taking the title with a leap of 23-8 3/4, just shy of the regional qualifying mark of 24-1. Junior Kendall Pyant II (Lee's Summit, Mo./Lee's Summit HS) finished second with a jump of 23-6 3/4.
"Anytime you have a freshman that comes that close to a regional qualifying mark in his first meet, it's excitable," said Assistant Coach Mike Cunningham. "Calvin and Kendall represented MSU well, and we hope for continued success in the long jump."
The Maroon and White's distance medley relay team of Phillip Moore (Hoover, Ala./Hoover HS), Pyant, Ryan Irwin (Ballwin, Mo./Marquette HS) and Dustin Fier (Hudson, Wis./Hudson HS) ran a winning time of 10 minutes, 06.19 seconds. State took the lead with Pyant's second-leg 400-meter sprint and sealed the victory with Irwin's 800-meter run.
In the sprint medley relay, the Bulldogs won with a time of 3:20.98. Junior transfer Steve Mullings (Perth Town, Jamaica/Barton Co. [Kansas] CC) and senior all-American LaChristopher Lewis (Coldwater, Miss./Coldwater HS) ran the relay's back-to-back 200-meter dashes, while freshman Elzie Coleman (Newburgh, N.Y./Newburgh Free Aca.) ran the third-leg 400-meter sprint. Freshman Chris Woods (Atlanta, Ga./B.E. Mays HS) anchored the team with the 800-meter run.
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, who ran 10 laps of the race without his shoe, finished third overall. Sophomore Travis McKay finished seventh with a personal best time of 14:46.86. Three other Bulldogs finished in the top 15: freshman Robert Scribner (13th), sophomore Brandon Smith (14th) and senior Gedamu Ege (15th).
Junior Mitchell Evans (Starkville, Miss./Starkville HS) finished fourth in the 400-meter hurdles (56.79). Action resumes Saturday at the Mike Long Track at 9:30 a.m. ET.