Mississippi State junior Steve Mullings edged Louisiana State’s Olympic Gold Medalist Kelly Willie to win the 200-meter title at the LSU Alumni Gold meet Saturday at Baton Rouge.
Mullings clocked a personal-best time of 20.45, which is also the best time for a Bulldog this season and the fourth fastest regional qualifying time posted in the event this season.
MSU head coach Al Schmidt described the overall performance as a “great tune-up for the Penn Relays,” which begins this Thursday.
“Overall, it was a good average day for us,” Schmidt said. “That’s what we wanted heading into next week.”
The Bulldogs posted three regional qualifying marks in the 400-meter dash with senior All-American LaChristopher Lewis finishing second in 46.53. Senior All-American Jamel Ashley (46.57) and sophomore All-American Arthur Davis (47.07) finished fourth and seventh, respectively.
MSU had a notable number of personal bests at the meet, including freshman Chris Woods’ 1:52.90 time in the 800-meter run, as well as junior Matt Martin (4:10.81) and freshman Robert Scribner (4:15.15) in the 1500-meter run.
Freshman Joseph Queen cleared a personal- and season-best 14-9 in the pole vault, and freshman Austin Golding set a personal best in the javelin with a throw of 166-09.
For the women, senior Jennifer Johnstone set a personal best in the hammer with a throw of 172-04, which ranks second on MSU’s all-time superlative list.
Tiffany McWilliams won the 800-meter dash, as well as the 1500-meter run.
Junior Zita Magloire was the third collegiate finisher in the 800-meter in 2:13.76, placing seventh overall.
In the 1500-meter, Magloire set a personal best 4:34.49 and was the fourth collegiate finisher as seventh overall.
Angelica Phillips and Annie Falor set personal bests in the 200-meter dash and 800-meter run.
MSU will compete Thursday through Saturday at the 111th running of the Penn Relay Carnival in Philadelphia, Pa.