Lauren Johnson and Jasmine Walls each set collegiate bests, as the Mississippi State University women’s indoor track and field team concluded competition at the 2005 Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships Sunday.
The event was hosted on the campus of the University of Arkansas at the Randal Tyson Indoor Track Complex.
“This is a young, promising squad,” head coach Al Schmidt said. “Our injuries devastated us. I think we lost one-third of our team to that alone. We’re disappointed, but the girls tried hard, and we had some good performances.”
Walls cleared 5-7 in the high jump Sunday, good for eighth place and placing her at No. 3 on the MSU All-Time Superlatives list for the event.
“I had a lot of confidence, and I just got it done,” said Walls, a junior from Picayune. “The coaches have helped out a lot.”
Likewise, Lauren Johnson placed eighth in the pentathlon Friday. Her 3,558 points in the event rank her third on the MSU All-Time Superlatives list.
Johnson finished sixth in the 60-meter hurdles, sixth in the 800-meter run, eighth in the long jump, tied for 12th in the high jump, and 13th in the shot put.
The junior’s run of 8.82 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles and throw of 31-10 14 in the shot put were each season-bests.
Sophomore Nicola Wilson also set a collegiate-best in the shot put with a throw of 45-1 34 and finished in 10th place. The throw is the best mark posted on the team this season.
Junior Jennifer McPherson qualified for the mile run final, and finished third with a time of 4:56.08. The mile preliminaries and the final marked only her first and second races back after returning from an Achilles injury.
MSU now focuses on the 2005 outdoor season. The MSU men’s team will be competing Friday in Tallahassee at the FSU Snowbird at Florida State University.