Mississippi State’s men’s track and field team opened its outdoor season this weekend by winning seven events, setting four regional qualifying marks and 33 career-best marks at the Florida State University Snowbird.
“We have a great season in front of us if we can continue to perform like we did,” said head coach Al Schmidt. “It was a great meet for us; we need to make every weekend like this one.”
The Bulldogs took first place in three of the meet’s four relays. Jamel Ashley, Keston Nelson, Kendall Pyant II and Arthur Davis set a regional qualifying mark in the 4×400-meter relay. The foursome took first place with a time of 3:06.90.
Also setting a regional qualifying mark, Eliott Morant, Ashley, Nelson and Glenn McFadden finished second in the 4×100-meter relay with a time of 40.46. Ashley finished third place in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10:80.
LaChristopher Lewis, another regional qualifier, completed the long jump with a career-best leap of 25-3, placing in the runner-up spot.
Matt Denton finished on top for the Bulldogs in the high jump with a jump of 6-10. Winning by a total of six inches, Denton established a regional qualifying mark in this event.
In the 110-meter hurdles, Trey Hardee turned in a time of 14.64, finishing in eighth place. Jason Odom set a career-best time in the 800-meter run with his 1:55.74 performance, which placed him sixth.
Freshmen Dustin Fier and Travis McKay completed the 1500-meter run in second and third place. Fier completed his race with a time of 3:58.17 and McKay finished not far behind in 4:01.00.
“Our pace was a little slow,” said Fier. “We have to learn to push through in the middle next time.”
Fier added: “Overall, it was nice for the freshmen to get our first experience. A lot of our older teammates reached regional qualifying marks. It is good that they got that taken care of.”
Also competing in the 1500-meter run, and finishing with only one one-hundredth of a second between one another, Elmore McConnell (4:06.25) and Phillip Moore (4:06.26) took the seventh and eighth place positions.
Chris Withrow set a career-best mark in the pole vault with a height of 15-1 that earned him fourth place.
Also leaping into a fourth place finish for the team was freshman, Jerald Wilson, with a measure of 44-9 in the triple jump.
For the throwers, Matt Whalen heaved the shot put to 52-2 for fifth and threw the hammer a distance of 176-1 for sixth. He set a career-best mark in both events.
John Micah Stowers threw the shot 46-8 for ninth place, the discus 146-10 for eighth and the hammer 151-5. All were career high marks. Another hurler, JD Erikson finished sixth in the shot put with a 51-11 and senior Clay Garner finished sixth by throwing the javelin 182-7.
“Several of our throwers came close to setting a regional
qualifying mark, but all in all, by the end of the season, we should have several to reach that point,” Garner said.
Next, the Bulldogs will compete in the Alabama Relays held in Tuscaloosa, Ala., March 19-21.