Last Saturday was a weekend of accomplishment for Mississippi State University’s track team. Leading the Virginia Challenge and the LSU Alumni Gold Meet, both Brandon McBride and Marta Freitas had respectable days on Saturday.

 MSU’s track and field team entered this weekend after coming off a very acceptable meet over Super Bulldog Weekend. 

Much anticipation was building for the LSU and Virginia meet last Saturday, as many other SEC teams have started preparing for their final s-eason stretches. Saturday’s meet definitely helped make a statement for Mississippi State. 

In the Virginia Challenge, Freitas claimed the No.1 time in the 1500m. The senior from Portugal has already claimed the SEC Mile Run Champion title and seems to be steadily improving. On Saturday, she ran the 1500m in only 4:11.52, the third fastest time in school history. 

In Louisiana, McBride recorded the fifth fastest time in the nation in his first 800m run of the season. Brandon is a senior from Ontario and finished second last year in the 800m run during the SEC Championship. 

He would later win second place in the 4x400m relay with Phillip Smith, Juston Waters and Alfred Larry. Together they finished with a time of 3:05.48, the tenth fastest time in the country. 

Erica Bougard also had a decent day in Louisiana. Bougard finished third in the invitational section on the long jump with a season-best leap of 20-07.25, which also ranked in the top 20 in the nation this year. 

She was also the second fastest collegiate athlete in the 100m hurdles, crossing the line at 13.47. The MSU graduate topped her day to take third place in the 4×400 with Shayla Luckett, Kimari Martin and Alon Lewis. 

MSU’s Head Coach, Steve Dudley, said after the meet that he was impressed with their showing this weekend.

“We definitely had a good showing today,” Dudley said. “I thought we competed hard and Marta and Brandon ran well. Today really helped show us a lot as we host the Jace Lacoste Invite next weekend in our final preparation for the SEC Championship.” 

Next weekend Mississippi State University will be hosting the MSU Invitational, which will be Mississippi State’s final opportunity to prepare for the SEC Championship on May 12. 

The men’s and women’s teams both sit in the Track and Field top 25 rankings this week, with the men’s team moving up 16 spots from No. 31 to No. 15 and the women’s team dropping three spots from No. 11 to No. 14.