Mississippi State’s indoor track and field season is off to a fast start and expectations are high after early record-setting performances.
The Bulldogs, who currently sit at No. 19 in the nation on the men’s side along with five other Southeastern Conference teams ranked in the top 25. The Lady Bulldogs are currently unranked, but second year head coach Steve Dudley said he is certain this season will be an improvement.
“We added a lot through recruiting and would be hugely disappointed if we did not finish better than we did last year,” he said.
If the way the Bulldogs started this season is any implication of how the rest of the season will go, then the future is bright for this team. The Bulldogs got off the blocks quickly with record-setting performances during back-to-back meets in Birmingham, Ala. State’s first meet at the UAB Invitational on Jan. 13 featured senior Jessica Merriweather’s first place 5’8″ high jump, which tied an MSU all-time record. On the very next day in the Alabama Invitational sophomore Marcus Jackson and sophomore James Harris both soared to set and share the MSU all-time record in the high jump with heights of 7’3″ & ¾ each.
“To share a record with a teammate is a big accomplishment, and every time we jump together is exciting,” Harris said.
Although setting a new record is a great achievement, Dudley said Jackson and Harris should not settle for those initial numbers.
“If you have athletes that are content with sharing the record, they don’t belong in the SEC or on this team,” he said.
Junior Jody-Ann Muir in her first race of the season also had a standout performance in the Alabama Invite with a time of 54.74 which gave her a third place finish in the 400m dash and the second fastest time in MSU history.
“I expected a fast time, but it was faster than I had expected for the first time around,” she said.
Mississippi State also earned two first place finishes in the Auburn Invitational in Lexington, Ky., on Saturday, Jan. 21. Junior Daundre Barnaby recorded a time of 47.36 in the 400m dash to secure the first of the two and shortly afterwards the 4x400m relay team of freshman Anthony Bynum, junior Tavaris Tate, junior Daundre Barnaby, and senior Emanuel Mayers sprinted for the second first place finish of the day with a time of 3:11.81.
Although individual achievements are necessary ingredients to qualify for nationals, Dudley emphasized it also takes a team effort to be successful.
“We try to create an environment where it is team, team, team,” he said.
Expectations for this team are certainly high after the opening weekends’ performances, but it comes to no surprise to Jody-Ann Muir.
“The team is very young, and we’ve been training really hard, and the results from the first three meets prove that,” she said.
According to Dudley, the opening performances are only steps in the right direction, but the team has more to prove than just records and victories.
“Not until we have won a national championship, I don’t believe any of us should be content,” he said.
Sophomore James Harris said that he wants this team to be remembered for beginning a new era in MSU track and field.
“We want to be a start of something and bring some hardware home,” he said. 
The Bulldogs have two more trips to Birmingham, Ala., on Jan. 25 and another on Feb. 10-11. Sandwiched in between are trips by two separate groups. One group will be headed to Kentucky for the Rod McCravy Invitational and the other to New York for the New Balance Invitational.
The team then has one more meet in Seattle for the Washington Invite before ending the indoor season in Lexington for the SEC Championships, then followed by the ultimate goal of the NCAA Championships in Boise, Idaho.