Mullings Closes Out SEC Championships By Winning 100-Meter Dash Title
NASHVILLE, Tenn. ?€“?€“ Mississippi State University's list of SoutheasternConference 100-meter dash champions got a little longer on Sunday. Just asLorenzo Daniel (1986) and Marquis Davis (2003) before him, junior SteveMullings won the 100-meter dash title at the 2005 SEC Outdoor Track and FieldChampionships. Mullings broke the Vanderbilt Track record en route to hisregional qualifying and winning time of 10.15 seconds.
"We had a great day," said MSU head coach Al Schmidt. "We came out of theweekend with two champions. Jamel (Ashley) had a fantastic day. He beat somegreat all-Americans in the 400. Unfortunately for us, we had to scratch our4x400-meter relay. LaChristopher (Lewis) hurt his hip flexor yesterday in thelong jump and it was bothering him after running the 4x1 today, so we didn'trun the 4x4. We didn't want to risk any more injury. We're going to be taking alot of depth and quality to nationals. The key to our women's team is keepingour talent healthy. We had more ladies in the training room this year than wehad here this weekend."
Mullings took fourth in the 200-meter dash with a regional qualifying 20.48.Senior all-American Jamel Ashley finished second in the 400-meter dash (45.72)and eighth in the 200 (21.04), both regional qualifying marks. Sophomoreall-American Arthur Davis ran a regional qualifying 46.84 to finish seventh inthe 400-meter dash.
State's 4x100-meter relay team of Mullings, Ashley, Davis and seniorall-American LaChristopher Lewis finished third in 39.56, a regional qualifyingmark.
"It was a good day for Steve Mullings and Mississippi State," said associatehead coach Steve Dudley. "Jamel (Ashley) solidified his all-American status.(LSU's) Kelly Willie is an Olympic gold medallist, and Jamel gave him a runfor it today. There are things we improved on this weekend. I think we showedwhy we're a top 10 team, but a lot of that hinges on injuries. Right now, we'vegot to get LaChristopher (Lewis) healthy."
Competing at his first SEC Championships, freshman Chris Woods took eighth inthe 800-meter run in 1:55.87. In the javelin, freshman Austin Golding set apersonal record (177-3). In the 5000-meter run, freshman John Brigham finished19th in 14:39.80, while Travis McKay came in 21st in a personal best 14:44.92.As a team, the Bulldogs finished in seventh place with 57 points.
In women's action, sophomore Christina Hernandez threw a personal best 43-9 1/4in the shot put. The 4x100-meter relay team of freshman Dominique Rogers,senior Kia James, freshman Angelica Phillips and junior Lauren Johnson placedseventh with a season-best 47.92. In the 4x400-meter relay, Rogers, James,junior Zita Magloire and Johnson combined for a season-best 3:53.84. The LadyBulldogs finished 11th with 11 points.
Up next for MSU, individuals who have met regional qualifying marks will competeat the NCAA Mideast Regional in Bloomington, Ind.