Mississippi State’s women’s indoor track and field team travelled to Lexington, Ky. Saturday eager to improve on some early season success. Five Lady Bulldogs finished in the top 10 in their respective events at the Rod McCravy Memorial Meet.
“Overall I am pleased with our performance today,” coach Al Schmidt said. “I think our younger runners made a lot of progress from Arkansas.”
Junior Wendy Copeland, of Tupelo, jumped well for MSU after some struggles finishing in third place in the long jump. Copeland jumped 19 feet-9.75 inches. Senior Priscilla Gaines set a mark just behind jumping 18-7.25 to finish in seventh place.
“[Copeland] jumped well today,” Schmidt said. “She had a little difficulty with the runway, but got off some good jumps, and [Gaines] jumped well also.”
Copeland said she had to modify her approach for the jump before she could set better marks. It took her a few tries before she found her rhythm, she said.
“The runway was a bit fast, and I had to adjust my steps,” Copeland said. “I got adjusted by my fourth jump.”
In the sprint events, freshman Crystal Wilson, of Kingston, Jamaica, ran 56.86 seconds in the 400-meter dash, which moved her into fourth place for MSU all-time indoor records. MSU had six Lady Bulldogs in the 200. Of the six, Wilson led the pack running 25.46. Wilson was followed closely by senior Gaines who ran 25.53 and sophomore Richesa McCaleb who ran 25.55.
“At first I was a bit exhausted running the 400,” Wilson said. “But when I got in the blocks and the gun went off, I was running great.”
Freshmen Chelsea Rae Smyth and Domonique Lockhart ran strongly enough to finish top 10 in the 800-meter run. Smyth ran 2:16.02 to take seventh place, and Lockhart ran 2:17.23 to finish in 10th.
In the distance events, freshman Renee Masterson finished in ninth place in the mile run with a time of 5:07.33. Also in the mile freshman Ana’s DeChamps ran 5:14.25. Sophomore Simone Domingue ran 10:11.26 in the 3,000-meter run to finish in 14th place.
Twenty out of the 26 women on the squad are underclassmen. Copeland said she tries to be a leader to the underclassmen with her performance.
“It’s a learning process,” she said. “I want to lead them by example.”
The level of competition raises the stakes for the runners. Each competition is an opportunity to be grasped.
“I got to be more aggressive in my competitions at levels like [the SEC] because this is no longer junior college level,” Wilson said.
Active and former men’s team runners participated unattached to any team in the event. Among the competitors were former MSU sprinter Jamil Hubbard and current freshman D’Angelo Cherry each won their respective races. Hubbard won the 50 in 46.58. Cherry, who set a national high school record at 55 meters in 2008, won the 60 in 6.64.
The women will now prepare for a return trip to Arkansas to compete at the Tyson Invitational Saturday.