The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss Track and Field Teams Compete in SEC Championships
6/21/1999 | Track and Field
May 20, 1998
OXFORD, Miss. -- The Ole Miss men's and women's track and field teams will travel to Gainesville, Fla., to participate in the Southeastern Conference Championships May 21-24. The championships, which are being held at the University of Florida, begin on Thursday, May 21 with the men's decathlon and women's heptathlon. The running and field events begin with preliminaries on Saturday, May 23.
"The SEC Championship meet is the one competition that we prepare for all season," said Ole Miss head coach Joe Walker. "We start focusing on the SEC Championships at the beginning of the outdoor season and use each meet on our schedule to improve and build momentum for the championships.
"It has been two weeks since our last competition, and we have used that time for some of our athletes to come back from injuries. We have had several injuries throughout the season, but we are as healthy as we can be going into the championships. Our athletes have always stepped up to the challenge of a big meet, and I expect them to do so at the SEC Championships. We are looking forward to competing in one of the top track and field competitions in the country this weekend."
The Ole Miss track and field squads will depend on the jumps to lead the way at the SEC Championships. Leading the jumps for the Lady Rebels is sophomore Tisha Parker, who holds the best mark in the long jump in the SEC with a mark of 21-4 1/4. Parker's jump broke her own school record in the event and also automatically qualified her for the NCAA Championships, which will be held at the University of Buffalo June 3-7. Junior Latoria Jordan has the top mark for the Lady Rebels in the triple jump at 41-3, which is also a school record. Jordan's triple jump mark is the fifth-best effort in the SEC. In the high jump, freshman Emily Fontenot will lead Ole Miss. Fontenot set the school record in the event with a jump of 5-10 and has provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships.
On the men's side, junior Marcus Jones and freshman Savante Stringfellow will be expected to score in the high and triple jumps. Jones set the Ole Miss school record in the high jump with a mark of 7-0 PI and also recorded the fifth-best effort in Rebel history in the triple jump at 50-7 1/4. Both marks are ranked among the SEC bests this season. Stringfellow will give Ole Miss another scorer in the high jump, as he has jumped 7-0 in the event this season.
Senior Jon Parry and junior Joe Bernard will compete in the decathlon for the Rebels. Last year, Parry and Bernard placed fifth and sixth, respectively, in the event. In the running events, the Rebels will look to a talented group of newcomers to help the team effort. Freshmen Willie Moore and Tristan McCord have the Rebels' top times in the 100 and 200 meters, while junior transfer Wayne Woolery has posted Ole Miss' best times in the 400 meters and 400-meter hurdles.
Freshmen will also be counted on to score for the Lady Rebels. Cheryl Faubion and Brandy Mack, both freshmen, are the Lady Rebels' top performers in the 100-meter and 400-meter hurdles.
Seniors Gwen Evans and Susie Haverlah, who will be competing in their fourth consecutive SEC Championships, will add experience for the young Lady Rebel team this weekend. Evans has Ole Miss' top time in the 400 meters, while Haverlah is the team's top performer in the 800 meters.
Last year, the Ole Miss men's squad placed seventh at the SEC Championships, while the women's team finished 10th. The seventh-place finish for the Rebels was the program's best showing at the championships since a sixth-place finish in 1993.
