Senior Marrissa Harris leads in the heptathlon at the Alabama Relays after Thursday. Harris earned 3,334 points in the first four events at Sam Bailey Track Complex.
Thursday was devoted to multi-events, women’s heptathlon and decathlon and will end today.
Head coach Al Schmidt said junior LaQuinta Aaron and Senior Darryl Brady had great first days. Aaron placed second in the heptathlon, earning 3,203 points. In the men’s decathlon, Senior Darryl Brady had his best first day ever in the decathlon with a mark of 3,682 points placing second overall behind unattached Tim Grier.
“The team had a solid first day,” Schmidt said. “Aaron had a personal best in the high jump, and Brady has got a good shot at defending his title.”
Schmidt said freshman Tevarus Christian competed today, but the plan is for him to rest tomorrow and focus his energy on Sunday’s relays and develop his second decathlon more in practice.
Sophomore Martin Lee slightly injured his hamstring in the 100 meters and will rest until at least the Ole Miss Invitational, he said.
MSU track and field will continue competition at the Alabama Relays in Tuscaloosa, Ala. until Sunday. In addition, some of the distance runners will compete in Stanford, Calif. at the Stanford Invitational today.
At the Alabama relays, Saturday will concentrate on vertical jumps, distance, sprints and hurdles. Sunday is horizontal jumps and relays to close out the four day slate.
The women’s long jump will give junior Wendy Copeland and senior Priscilla Gaines the opportunity to qualify for regionals after winning at the Rhodes Invitational, Schmidt said.
Both 4×100-meter and 4x 400 relay teams are coming off of winning times at Rhodes College. The team will use this event to prepare itself for the Texas Relay in Austin, Texas and the Penn Relay in Philadelphia, Penn, he said.
The youth of the team will profit from the weekend.
“Saturday will be dedicated to the young ones,” Schmidt said.
33 squads have traveled to compete in the Alabama Relays, including SEC schools Auburn, Ole Miss and host Alabama.
Four MSU distance runners travel across the country to compete today in the Stanford Invitational today.
Senior Robert Scribner and sophomore Adam Lens will run in the 10,000 meters, freshman Matthew Cameron in 1,500 and the lone woman, senior Simone Domingue in 5,000.
The magnitude of the Stanford Invitational is emphasized in the amount of talent that is drawn. The past several years, the biggest distance meets in the country have been at Stanford and many American records have been set in years past.
“We go out to Stanford because it is pretty much optimal race conditions,” Scribner said. “I really expect to take advantage of the situation and hopefully run somewhere close to a time that will get me into nationals.”
Scribner pointed out the mental aspect involved in running in large meets. The amount of competition can improve times, but the speedy pace can zone-out a runner from focusing on meeting planned times called splits.
The respect given to this meet also lures the best talent in the nation.
“Stanford is really prestigious,” Scribner said. “It’s the biggest meet in the country in terms of distance races.”