Harris Leads Heptathlon After Day One At SEC Championships
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Mississippi State University freshman Marrissa Harris (Memphis, Tenn.) scored 3,240 points on the opening day of the heptathlon to lead all competitors. Harris recorded a school and freshman record of 13.52 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles. The mark is also a regional and Junior Nationals qualifying mark.
Harris 100-meter hurdles time breaks the previous school record 13.70 set by Alicia Armstrong in 1993. The previous freshman record was 13.89 (LeKisha Barnaby-Pope, 2000).
Harris also finished third in the 200-meter dash with a time of 24.80 and a personal-best throw of 35 feet, eight-and-one-half inches in the shot put. She tied for seventh in the high jump, clearing a personal-best 5-01 3/4.
Senior Lauren Johnson (Scottsboro, Ala.) sits in sixth with 3,095 points. Johnson clocked a season's best 14.03 seconds to finish fourth in the 100-meter hurdles. She also tied her high jump personal best, leaping 5-03. Johnson took fourth in the shot put (33-05 3/4) and sixth in the 200-meter dash (25.49).
In the men's decathlon competition, a pair of MSU athletes closed out the opening day in the top 10. Freshman Darryl Brady (Vancleave, Miss.) set personal records in three events en route to tallying 3,381 points on the first day. Brady ran 11.65 in the 100-meter dash, 51.92 in the 400-meter dash and leaped 21-02 3/4 in the long jump. Teammate and sophomore Joseph Queen (Jackson, Miss.) sets personal bests in four events and accumulated 3,297 points to hold eighth heading into the final day of competition. Queen ran 11.57 in the 100-meter dash, 50.93 in the 400-meter dash, jumped 20-10 1/2 in the long jump and threw the shot put 35-01 1/4.
Action resumes tomorrow at 10 a.m. CT with the women's hammer throw preliminaries and finals. Men's decathlon competition resumes at 3 p.m. CT, while the women's heptathlon is scheduled to start at 4 p.m. CT.