Jamel Ashley raced to a first-place finish, as the Mississippi State University track and field squad successfully finished the 10th annual Jace Lacoste Invitational Saturday afternoon.
The Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs set seven regional qualifying marks and won 10 events.
Ashley, a senior all-American, won the 400-meter dash with a regional qualifying time of 45.69, a new Jace Lacoste Invitational record.
The Bulldogs took overall team honors with 165 points.
“The 400-meter guys were phenomenal,” said MSU head coach Al Schmidt. “Every week, we go out there and battle.”
Two other Bulldogs finished with regional qualifying times.
Sophomore all-American Arthur Davis finished third with a time of 46.17, a personal best, and senior all-American LaChristopher Lewis came in fourth at 46.40.
Lewis also won the 200-meter dash in a regional qualifying 21.06. Davis followed him with 21.23.
In the high jump, senior Matt Denton set a regional qualifying mark and a personal best in clearing 7 feet. He took top honors in the event.
The Bulldogs wrapped up the top four spots in the 1500-meter run with Travis McKay (1st, 3:54.41), Brandon Smith (2nd, 3:59.60) and John Brigham (3rd, 3:59.74), setting personal highs. Sophomore Philip Moore took fourth.
The 4×400-meter relay team of Adian Sanderson, Chris Woods, Elzie Coleman and Kendall Pyant II won with a regional-qualifying 3:09.44. The team is comprised of three freshmen and a junior.
Senior Gedamu Ege won the 5000-meter run with a time of 15:02.01, while freshman Robert Scribner came in third.
The Lady Bulldogs finished second with 129 points, and junior Meggan Hodge broke a Jace Lacoste Invitational record in the 3000-meter steeplechase; her winning time was 11:03.78.
Senior Crystal Averitt won in both the discus and hammer events with marks of 156-11 and 173-10, respectively. Her performance in the discus qualifies her for the Mideast Regional, to be held in Bloomington, Ind. next month.
Sophomore Nicola Wilson won the shot put with a personal-best mark of 46-06, while junior Zita Magloire finished second in the 1500-meter run with a personal-best time of 4:37.45. Junior Jasmine Walls cleared a personal-best 5-07 in the high jump.
Sophomore Christina Hernandez finished second in the discus and fourth in the shot put.
Both track and field teams will be in action this Saturday at the LSU Alumni Gold meet in Baton Rouge, La.