Freshman D’Angelo Cherry won the 100-meter dash for MSU track and field at the 82nd Texas Relays in Austin, Texas. Cherry ran a regionally qualifying time of 10.16 seconds, which puts him at fifth all-time for MSU.
Head coach Al Schmidt said Cherry’s show was the best part of MSU’s weekend.
“That puts him in the top two or three in the nation,” he said.
Associate head coach Steve Dudley said the race showed what Cherry can do when the pressure is on in front of a large crowd.
“Only a handful of people have been able to win the Texas Relays, so that was huge for [Cherry],” Dudley said.
Cherry said he is far ahead of the goals set in preseason. His Texas relay time was actually the time he wanted to earn by the SEC meet, which is 10 weeks ahead of schedule. The race left the runner excited.
“I was extremely happy about the race,” Cherry said.
Dudley said Cherry could have competed in the invitational section, which had mostly professional runners but lacks preliminaries. He said it would give him more experience running in the university section, which had preliminaries and finals, simulating the SEC meet format. The decision proved to be a good one, sealing victory and a great time.
The 4×200-meter relay team consisting of Cherry, junior Dwight Mullings, senior John Bailey and sophomore Justin Christian placed third at 1:23.28. The same squad ran 39.52 seconds in the 4×100-meter final to finish in fifth place and qualify for regionals again.
“I am substantially happier with my [sprint] group,” Dudley said. “We are now becoming one heartbeat, and we are getting ourselves to the level that I expect the sprinters to be here at MSU.”
The men’s 4×400-meter relay team of Mullings, freshman Trevarus Christian, Bailey and sophomore Emanuel Mayers ran a regionally qualifying time of 3:09.54 in the preliminaries.
John Bailey injured his hamstring during his final stretch in the 4×200, so senior Delandus O’Neal stepped in for him, Dudley said. With the absence of injured All-American Kendall May and O’Neal Wilder, the amount of bodies was getting low.
After a weaker showing at Alabama, it was a completely different team that had matured in its attitude, Dudley said.
“Nobody likes to lose, but sometimes you learn more about yourself and your team from losing than from winning,” Dudley said.
The squad’s willingness to run the final did not produce a winning effort in the 4×400, but it did produce faster splits for Mayers and Mullings, Dudley said. The team could have gone home early, but it stayed and progressed in the relays.
“Those guys got better because they ran that relay,” he said.
In the jumps, junior Kendrick Poullard jumped a personal-best and regionally qualifying 50 feet 8.75 inches to finish second in Section B of the triple jump.
On the distance side, junior Daniel Simpkins won the 3,000-meter steeplechase in Section B with a time of 9:23.77.
For the Lady Bulldogs, senior Priscilla Gaines, junior Wendy Copeland, junior LaQuinta Aaron and senior Marrissa Harris finished in fourth place in the 4×200-meter relay. The team ran 1:36.54 to move into fourth best all-time in MSU history. Harris also competed in the invitational section of the 100-meter hurdles and ran 13.58 to finish sixth.
Copeland achieved an outdoor season-best and regional qualifying mark in the long jump with a distance of 19-08.
Sophomore Simone Domingue ran a personal best, 4:46.90, in section B of the 1500-meter run to claim fifth place in the event.
The team will resume action in Oxford for the Mississippi Invitational Saturday.