Travis McKay and the men’s outdoor track and field team took advantage of their home field, winning seven individual events and one relay at the Bulldog Invitational on Saturday.
The squad also set five NCAA regional qualifying marks on its way to taking top honors at the event.
The Bulldogs defeated Louisiana Tech 147 points to 105. Southern Miss placed third (99), while Missouri State (91) was fourth. Memphis (78) was fifth and Alabama-Huntsville (18) finished sixth.
“It was a good win,” MSU head coach Al Schmidt said. “The men’s 4×1 qualified for regionals, and we had two individuals qualify in the 400-meter dash. We scored a lot of points and won pretty big.”
The Bulldogs’ distance unit dominated the 3000-meter run field. McKay finished first with a time of eight minutes, 26.51 seconds, setting a new Spencer Stadium/Maddox Track record and personal best. Gedamu Ege, John Brigham, Pad Judd and Wade Martin all finished in the top 10.
All-American Chris Woods flew by the competition in the 800-meter run, clocking in at a personal-best 1:48.90, three seconds faster than the next runner to cross the line. The time ranks fifth on the MSU all-time superlatives list for the event.
Bruce Davis and Ezra Jones qualified for June’s NCAA Mideast Regional in the 400-meter dash. Jones won the event with a personal-best time of 46.99, while Davis finished third in a personal-best 47.24.
In the 1500-meter run, junior Phillip Moore won the race, running a personal-best 3:57.23.
Women
On the women’s side, Zita Magloire won both the 800- and 1500-meter runs, while two other Lady Bulldogs met NCAA qualifying marks in their respective events.
“Zita had a great day,” Schmidt said. “It was great to see Marrissa (Harris) qualify for regionals. We scored a lot of points on both sides and won pretty big.”
The Lady Bulldogs scored 165 points, besting second-place Louisiana Tech (127), Missouri State (94), Memphis (87), Southern Mississippi (61), Alabama (8), Alabama-Huntsville (5) and Alcorn State (4) followed.
Magloire finished the 800-meter run in 2:10.83 and posted a personal-best 4:34.30 in the 1500-meter run.
Freshman Marrissa Harris added a second-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles, with a personal-best time of 13.92. The time, the fourth-best time in school history, qualified Harris for June’s NCAA Mideast Regional.
Nicola Wilson continued her stellar season by setting her third regional mark of the season. Wilson finished third in the shot put with a throw of 47 feet, seven-and-three-quarters inches.