MSU track and field posted eight regionally qualifying marks Friday and Saturday by seven different athletes at the Auburn War Eagle Invitational.
Junior Dwight Mullings, sophomore Emanuel Mayers and senior Marrissa Harris produced first-place efforts in their respective events. In total, 15 Bulldogs finished in the top five.
Mullings regionally qualified for the 400-meter run and 200-meter run. In the 400, he ran 45.61 seconds for first place, and in the 200 he ran 20.85 for eighth place.
Associate head coach Steve Dudley was happy with Mullings’s expected performance in the 400, but saw it as a bonus to qualify in the 200 as well.
“The icing on the cake was a faster time in the 200 that got him more solidly qualified,” Dudley said.
Mullings joked about the amount of training Dudley has been putting the sprint group through compared to the meet.
“For regionals, the way [Coach Dudley] trains me, [the races were] like nothing,” Mullings said.
Sophomore Matthew Cameron ran his third regional qualifying mark of the season at 3:44.52 in the Invitational Section 1,500-meter to place second. His time moved him to second-all time in MSU history.
Cameron said his race, which took place Friday night, had ideal conditions. The race environment was low pressure with a smaller crowd and cooler temperatures. The event was also aided by a rabbit runner, which made running a faster time much easier to reach.
“I made a lot of progress at this meet, and I am excited to see what happens at SECs and regionals,” Cameron said. “We are trying to get more distance guys to make it to nationals and build a program here at State for track.”
Mayers showed promise in the 400-meter hurdles, winning with a time of 52.49. Mayers has improvements to make on his 400-meter run, but in the 400 hurdles he is doing as expected.
“In the hurdles, [Mayers] continues to run exceptionally well,” Dudley said.
Freshman D’Angelo Cherry ran another regional qualifying time of 10.38 seconds in the men’s 100-meter dash to place fifth
Harris and junior LaQuinta Aaron earned first and second in the 100-meter hurdles, respectively. Both earned regional qualifying times with Harris finishing in 13.51 and Aaron in 13.52.
Assistant head coach Bryan Fetzer said the two have the chance to compete against the best when it comes to points for the SEC heptathlon.
“[Harris] is already established as one of the best hurdlers in the college, and [Aaron] just continues to get better at them,” Fetzer said.