Mississippi State’s women track team will journey to Fayetteville, Ark., on Friday to compete in the two-day Tyson Invitational at the University of Arkansas. “This meet will be really important for us,” head coach Al Schmidt said. “We’ll be facing a lot of teams in the SEC, so it will let us know where we are for the championships.”
Schmidt and his team will be facing many of their Southeastern Conference rivals, such as Auburn, Florida, Georgia, LSU and Tennessee.
They will also be facing many schools that they do not normally compete against such as Michigan, USC and Texas.
Sixteen girls from the Lady Bulldogs squad will be competing in the Tyson Invitational.
Sophomore Emily Sanders will be competing in the women’s weight throw. She recently placed sixth in the same event at the Bayou Bengal Invitational.
Senior Nicola Wilson will be entering the shot put competition.
In distance events, Michelle Corrigan, Nicole Rosetti and Sarah Milam will be competing in the 5,000-meter run. Corrigan also had a strong showing in the team’s meet at LSU, finishing third in the 3,000-meter run.
Junior Annie Falor will be competing in both the mile and 3,000-meter run events.
Falor has begun her season strong, finishing third in both the 3,000-meter run and the mile run at the Clemson meet and taking home first place in the 3,000-meter event at LSU.
Joining Falor in these distance events will be sophomore Brittany Detzel, senior Joy Griffith and senior Mina Thorstenson.
Sophomore Abbey Graham will be the only MSU distance runner competing in the 800-meter run.
In the jumps events, freshmen Marrissa Harris and Wendy Copeland will be competing in the long jump competition.
Copeland set new personal best marks in her previous meet at LSU, while Harris had a good showing in the hurdles competition at Clemson with a sixth-place finish.
Harris will also be competing in the 60-meter hurdles event in Arkansas.
Copeland will also be competing in the triple jump competition along with sophomore Janelle Finley.
Sophomore Dorothy Youmans is the only Bulldog entered in the high jump event.
Freshman Laquinta Aaron will continue her impressive streak in the sprints competitions.
Aaron finished 10th in the 60-meter dash at Clemson and won the 200-meter dash competition at LSU.
“We still have to focus our attention on the SEC championships,” Schmidt said. “You can’t sell your whole season out trying to win one meet. You have to focus on the championship.”
The Bulldogs will compete in the Tyson Invitational on Friday and Saturday, with the competition running all day.
They will then have a two-week break before traveling to the Southeastern Conference Indoor Track Championships on Feb. 23-25 in Lexington, Ky.