Two Lady Bulldogs placed in the Top 10 and another delivered a career best performance in Fayetteville, Ark., last weekend at the Tyson Invitational Meet.
Running in the 5,000-meter at the collegiate level for the first time, Joy Griffith ran a career-best time of 17:10.20. Griffith finished in 8th-place overall.
“Joy performed really well and I am very proud of her, head coach Al Schmidt said. “She ran faster than any freshman I have ever had.”
“I decided just to run my best and whether I did good or bad, it would not define who I am. If I did bad, I decided I would try harder, and if I did good, I would continue to try just as hard,” Joy Griffith said. “I was very pleased with my race,” she added.
Tiffany McWilliams competed in the one-mile race, turning in a time of 4:42.58. This time earned McWilliams second place honors. She also set her third NCAA Provisional Qualifying mark in this event.
“Tiffany is continuing to improve; she is now ranked among the Top Five in the nation,” coach Schmidt said.
Michelle Kinney also contributed to the MSU team by running the 3000-meter race. She finished a career-best time of 10:44.55.
“My goal was to run my first mile faster because in my previous races it was too slow,” Kinney said. “Coach told me to surge and pass the girls in front of me and that’s what I did. This put me in a position to turn in a faster time than I ever have before.”
The Lady Dawgs will have two weeks to prepare for the SEC Indoor Championships.