When thinking about
collegiate athletics, the
words “track and field”
are almost never mentioned before
sports such as football, basketball and
baseball. But as its 2012 season begins
to hit the homestretch, the Mississippi
State track and field team is well on its
way to possibly securing the highest
national ranking amongst all sports at
MSU during the 2011-2012 athletic
seasons.
While the sport itself may never garner
the same public or media attention
major sports do, that has not hindered
the men’s track and field team from recently
ascending into the top 10 in the
U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country
Coaches Association rankings with
no sign of slowing down.
The outdoor track and field season
has been highlighted by several individual
and team accolades for both the
men’s and women’s squads. The second
annual SEC/Big Ten Challenge,
which was hosted by MSU, featured
several members of State’s women’s
team who played a key role in the SEC
taking the crown.
During the course of the season,
juniors Tavaris Tate, Jody-Ann Muir
and freshman Jarrett Samuels have led
the nation in their respectable events.
Tate leads the nation in the 400-meter
dash, and Samuels is widely known as
one of the best, young long jumpers at
the collegiate level. Muir ran a blistering
time of 52.47 seconds during the
400-meter dash at LSU, a time that
has the junior currently ranked fourth
in the country in the event.
Sophomore James Harris is also
ranked near the top in the nation in
multiple events, and junior Keisha
Williams is ranked fifth nationally in
the 100 meter sprint. In team competition,
the MSU men are ranked second
in the country in the 4×400 meter
and fifth in the 4×100 meter.
As the MSU track and field teams
continue to achieve consistent success,
Bulldog upperclassmen, such as senior
Ed Wesela, are finally beginning to see
their continuous hard work, commitment
and dedication pay off. Wesela,
who competes in the discus and shot
put, said State’s ascension to national
prominence is a tribute to the family
the MSU track and field teams have
become.
“It’s real nice to see a lot of people
doing a lot of hard work,” Wesela said.
“It’s good to see the sprinters coming
to cheer on the distance runners and
the distance runners cheering on the
sprinters. It’s just great to see the team
that we’ve become.”
This past weekend, Wesela and
the Bulldogs stayed in Starkville to
participate in The Jace Lacoste Invitational,
a competition in which
the theme was to bring several local
colleges and universities together to
honor and remember Jace Lacoste, a
former MSU track and field member
and an All-SEC decathlete who tragically
passed away in 1995. In their first
opportunity to perform in front of a
home crowd in nearly a month, State
did not disappoint. The Bulldogs captured
12 victories, two of which were
credited to Wesela, and added 17 topfive
finishes en route to a dominating
performance.
As the track and field season
continues, the Dogs will
travel Auburn, Pennsylvania and
Southern Mississippi before returning
home for a competition one week before
the SEC Championship takes
place. At the conclusion of the conference
tournament, MSU hopes to
find itself in a ranking high enough
to compete in the preliminary and
championship rounds