ATHENS, Ga. — Mississippi State freshman Rochelle Farquharson recorded a personal-best jump of 21 feet 3 1/4 inches Saturday to win the long jump at the Southeastern Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships at the Spec Towns Track on the campus of the University of Georgia.
“It feels great to do it at my first SEC Championships,” Farquharson said. “I planned to go in there and do what I had to do. I think I did that.”
In preliminaries, Keisha Wallace finished third in the 100-meter hurdles (13.24 seconds), earning a place in the finals today. Joining Wallace will be Jody-Ann Muir, who finished eighth in the 400 (53.65).
After the third day of competition the Lady Bulldogs find themselves in ninth in the team standings with 19 points.
For the MSU men, junior Ed Wesela scored six points with a personal-best 58-8 1/2 to finish third.
Freshman James Harris ran a personal best and finished with a third in the 400 dash (46.21) to qualify for today”s final. Freshman John Valentine had a personal best and finished seventh in the 3,000 steeplechase, earning two points for the Bulldogs
MSU has 11 points and is tied for seventh with Kentucky.
Action will begin at noon today.
Ole Miss
Propelled by a couple of school-record efforts, the women moved up to sixth place in the standings with 24 points entering today”s final day of competition, while the men are ninth (10 points).
Sophomore Neal Tisher broke her school record in the pole vault to finish in third (13-9 3/4) and score six points for her team.
Another school record came from sophomore Katie Breathitt. The former Rebel soccer player, competing in the 3,000 steeplechase for the first time, broke her record from the recent Mississippi Open with a time of 10:39.95 to finish fifth and earn four points.
Senior Betty Williams was seventh in the discus (157-3).
On the men”s side, senior Martin Kirui took fourth in the 3,000 steeplechase. (9:02.61), freshman Benjamin Lapane took fifth in the javelin (personal-best 210-8), and junior Caleb Lee was eighth in the long jump (25-1 3/4).
The short sprint duo of senior Jonathan Juin and sophomore Mike Granger qualified for the finals of the 100 with times of 10.27 and 10.32, respectively.
High jumper Ricky Robertson, triple jumper Morris Kersh, 400 hurdlers Lee Ellis Moore, Carson Blanks, and Ras-Len Bully, the men”s 4×100 and 4×400 relay teams, Sofie Persson (400 hurdles), Betty Williams (shot put), and both relay squads will compete today.
Alabama
The University of Alabama men advanced four competitors to the finals today.
Kirani James, the defending SEC and NCAA champion in the 400, cruised into the finals with a second-place time of 45.92 in his preliminary heat.
In the 1,500, the Bor brothers advanced, as Emmanuel was fourth (3 minutes, 51.90 seconds), while Julius was 11th (3:54.56).
Freshman Kamal Fuller nearly qualified in two events, as he finished seventh in the 110 hurdles (14.49) to advance but came up just short with a ninth-place mark of 24-11 in the long jump.
On the women”s side, Kaylon Eppinger, who placed second in the heptathlon in the first two days, turned in a personal-best time of 13.51 to finish seventh in the preliminaries of the 100 hurdles to advance to the finals. The defending champion in the event, senior Kim Laing, suffered an injury halfway through the race and was unable to finish and defend her title.
In the 400m preliminary heats, Camilla Armstead posted a personal best time of 55.82 in 19th place. In the 1,500m, the Crimson Tide had a pair of runners narrowly miss advancing as Leigh Gilmore and Elsbeth Denton finished 14th and 16th, respectively, with times of 4:30.12 and 4:32.75.
n On Friday, Haley Greenwell was the top finisher for the MSU women, as the sophomore ran a 34:16.54 to finish third in the 10,000.
Favian Cowards secured the first points of the meet for the Lady Bulldogs, throwing a personal best 176-10 to earn eighth and secure one point.
Keisha Wallace secured the next points of the day as she finished seventh in the heptathlon. The sophomore”s personal-best 5,140 points helped her earn two points and placed her fourth on the MSU all-time list.
Wallace posted personal bests in the long jump (18-5) and the 800 (2:20.43).
In preliminaries, Talisha Lee was seventh in the 400 hurdles (59.61) to earn a place in the finals today. Lee finished just over a second ahead of teammate Brittany Covington, who placed ninth with a personal-best time of 1:00.07.
Decathletes Trevarus Christian and Antoine Lipscomb set personal bests in the 110 hurdles and the javelin, while Lipscomb also had personal bests in the pole vault and the 1,500.
Christian completed the decathlon with a personal-best 6,900 points to finish sixth. Lipscomb finished ninth (personal-best 6,732 points).
For Alabama, senior Fred Samoei and freshman Dwayne Extol advanced to the finals today.
Samoei won his heat in the 800 and was fourth with a time of 1:50.08. Samoei won the event during the indoor season and boasts a personal-best time of 1:45.52.
Extol finished second in his heat of the 400 hurdles with his second-fastest time of the season (52.37). Extol”s time was the sixth fastest of the afternoon.
Justin Brady finished 10th in the decathlon (6,016 points).
On the women”s side, Kaylon Eppinger finished second in the heptathlon thanks in large part to a personal-best jump of 18-11 3/4 in the long jump.
Amethyst Holmes shattered a personal best by nearly two feet and season best by five feet with a throw of 176-11 to finish seventh in the hammer throw.
Kelsey Johnson just missed scoring in the 10,000 final with a ninth-place time of 37:23.86. In preliminary action, Talaya Owens finished eighth in the 400 hurdles (59.70) to advance to today”s final.
Leigh Gilmore recorded a season-best time of 2:11.84 to take 15th in the 800, while Elsbeth Denton notched a personal-best of 2:15.02 and finished 20th.
For Ole Miss, senior Juliana Smith finished runner-up in the hammer throw and several others advanced past the preliminaries.
Smith, an All-American in the indoor season, finished second in the hammer throw (189-0) to earn eight points. She entered the meet ranked 12th in the country with a school-record throw of 202-11 earlier this year.
Freshman Mary Ashton Nall broke her school freshman record with 5,195 points to place sixth in the heptathlon, while sophomore Brittany Bozeman finished eighth (4,885 points).
Ole Miss finished first, third, and fifth among competitors in the men”s 400 meter hurdles, with senior Lee Ellis Moore posting the top time in the first round at 50.93. Juniors Carson Blanks (51.72) and Ras-Len Bully (52.04) helped make it a dominating event.
Also advancing in the women”s 400 meter hurdles was senior Sofie Persson, who won her heat and claimed the third-best time in the preliminaries with a 58.52.
In the men”s and women”s 200, Jonathan Juin (20.88) and LaJada Baldwin (23.63) just missed qualifying for the finals with 10th- and ninth-place finishes, respectively.
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