One athlete stole the show for the Mississippi State women’s track and field Bulldogs during the weekend in Lexington, Ky. The Lady Dawgs competed in the Rod McCravy Memorial Invitational over Friday and Saturday, which featured 18 women’s teams, five who are nationally ranked.
The field included No. 2 Tennessee, No. 3 Texas A&M, No. 10 South Carolina, No. 11 Florida and No. 17 Georgia Tech.
Kentucky head track and field coach Don Weber said the competition would be “one of the top meets in the nation this year,” due to the depth of the strong competition.
MSU head coach Al Schmidt agreed that the field was very tough.
“I thought we had some good things happen,” Schmidt said. “This was a big meet with a lot of teams.”
Sophomore Wendy Copeland, of Tupelo, set a personal best in the long jump competition, not only defeating her previous record, but also the other 17 schools in the event as well.
Copeland’s jump was recorded at 19 feet, 10.75 inches.
Coach Schmidt hailed Copeland’s performance.
He said he was impressed that she rebounded so well after having to deal with a death in her family during the Clemson Invitational in mid-January.
“Obviously, the big performance today was from Wendy Copeland,” Schmidt said. “It was very close to qualifying, and it was a big, big jump for her. We are happy for her.”
Two freshmen also had notable performances. In the 3000-meter run, Sarah Hammes, of Meridian, posted a time of 10 minutes, 19.46 seconds.
In the same race, Lydia Chebii finished at 10 minutes, 52.13 seconds.
Junior Gabrielle Dillon, of Liberty, also ran well, posting a 7.62 time in the 60-meter dash to advance to the finals. Dillon posted a 7.67 time in the finals.
Another freshman, Diamond Marks, of Atlanta, Ga., posted a 2:16.91 time to finish 13th in the 800-meter run.
The Lady Bulldogs will compete next in Fayetteville, Ark., as they take part in the Tyson Invitational on Feb. 15 and 16.