Mississippi State University’s women’s indoor track and field team looks to continue its winning ways as the Dogs enter the week ranked No. 25 nationally.
The top-25 nod was foreseen by head coach Steve Dudley after a superb showing at the SEC Championships last week.
In a press release, Dudley said Bougard performed like a champion over the weekend.
“I couldn’t be prouder of how our women performed this weekend,” Dudley said. “There is no doubt in my mind that we’ll rank in the nation’s Top 25. If we keep doing our job, we’ll be even better in the years to come.”
The women finished No. 11 overall in the SEC final standings in Fayetteville, Ark., last weekend. Sophomore Erica Bougard led the way in scoring for her squad as she put up 13 of her teams 18 total points.
Many of those points came from her record-breaking performance in the triple jump competition. The Byhalia, Miss., native broke an MSU record that had gone nearly 15 years without being touched with her 41-09.25 showing. Bougard said she did not purposefully try to break the record but that it just happened.
“Breaking the school record was pretty awesome even though I had no intentions on doing so,” Bougard said. “The triple jump isn’t one of my main events. It’s just something my coach thought I could do and excel in, so I went out there and tried it.”
In the first day of the competition, Bougard set four personal records in the pentathlon and won the 60-meter hurdles and the long jump. She ended the day with a second place finish in the 800-meter run but was later disqualified for stepping out of bounds, moving her to 13th place.
In the 4×400-meter relay, the Bulldog team of Bougard, Ocian Archer, Jody-Ann Muir and Kanishia Carey broke the school record with a time of 3:39.28.
Bougard said she does not look at herself as the main leader because everyone leads and helps each other out in times of crisis or need.
 ”We all motivate one another from time to time,” Bougard said. “Mentally, I just focus on the positives all the time, and of course I keep in touch with my family throughout my entire competitions. They help with that a lot.”
The men do not have an official indoor team, but Canadian Brandon McBride will compete in various indoor competitions at Nationals. While he is very focused on doing well at Nationals in the indoor department, he said he is really looking forward to the outdoor competitions as well.
“We don’t really have an official indoor men’s team, so I just compete in various events. Also, I’m very tall, so indoors isn’t our main focus at this time,” McBride said. “But I’m still going to compete to the fullest of my abilities.”
McBride, who signed with MSU in February of last year, is looking to make a big impact this year. He said making Nationals is on the mind of everyone on the team.
“As a team the goal would be to qualify more people to go to Nationals, but personally I would like to break my country’s junior record for outdoor competition,” McBride said.
This weekend, select players will travel to South Bend, Ind., to compete in the Alex Wilson Invitational, which is a last chance qualifier meet. This gives the athletes one final chance to qualify for the 2013 NCAA Indoor Championships.
 For the men, the 4×400-meter relay team of Daundre Barnaby, Scottie Hearn, Randy Patterson and McBride will compete along with Jason Harper in the triple jump and Marcus Jackson in the high jump. Barnaby and McBride will race in the 400-meter dash. Muir will represent the lady Bulldogs and compete in the 400-meter dash.
For those who qualify, the NCAA Indoor Championships will be next Thursday through Saturday in Fayetteville, Ark.