The University of Mississippi Athletics
Track And Field Squads Hit The Road
5/19/2000 | Track and Field
May 19, 2000
OXFORD, Miss. -- For the first time in school history, the Ole Miss Lady Rebel track and field team picked up a national ranking, entering the Trackwire Online poll at No. 16 this week. The Lady Rebels will face their first test as they travel to Atlanta, Ga., along with the Rebels, to compete in the Georgia Tech-Reebok Invitational Saturday, the last meet before the NCAA Championships.
Based on their record setting performance at the SEC Championships, the Ole Miss women vaulted into national contention, finishing ninth in the conference meet with a school record 40 team points. The Lady Rebels also crowned their first SEC champion, when junior All-American Tisha Parker won the long jump with a school and meet record leap of 21-9, which ranks fourth in the world this year. Since she is automatically qualified in the long jump, she will be trying to improve on her NCAA provisional qualifying mark in the triple jump, while also competing in the 200 meters.
Also trying to improve on her provisional qualifying marks, All-American Teneeshia Jones will be gearing up for the NCAA Championships in the 100 and 200 meters after setting school records in both events at the SEC Championships, finishing second in the 100 meters and third in the 200 meters. Currently ranked sixth in the NCAA and eighth in the world this year in the 100 meters, Jones is just .03 shy of the automatic qualifying mark. She is also ranked ninth in the NCAA in the 200 meters, putting her 28th in the world this year and prompted Track and Field News to predicted that she will finish second at the NCAA Championships.
Junior Brandy Mack and sophomore Chika Chuku will also be trying to improve on their provisional qualifying marks. Brandy Mack, who was disqualified from the 400-meter hurdles finals for a false start at the SEC Championships after qualifying in second place, is ranked 15th in the NCAA in that discipline and should become the first Ole Miss athlete to qualify for the NCAA Championships in an individual event three years in a row.
Chuku, who came up just shy of the school record in the 800 meters last weekend, is ranked 22nd in the NCAA this season. Her second place finish at the SEC Championships, topped her third place finish of a year ago, and improved her personal best in the event.
Hoping to pick of NCAA marks for the Lady Rebels will be Dawn Dickerson in the 400 meters and Brandy Barnett in the high jump. Barnett, the school record holder in the high jump, is hoping to reach the 5-10.5 mark to be provisionally qualified. After reaching that height in the indoor season, Barnett's best jump of the outdoor season has been 5-7 at the Penn Relays, while Dickerson, who has the second fastest 400 meter time of the season for the Lady Rebels, will try to qualify for her first NCAA Championships this weekend.
On the men's side, All-American Savante' Stringfellow, the SEC long jump runner-up who currently ranks second in the NCAA and fourth in the world in that discipline, will take the weekend off in that event, to compete in both the 100 and 200 meters. Stringfellow ran the second best 200-meter time in school history to qualify for the event finals in seventh place at the SEC Championships. A world class long jumper, Stringfellow uses the sprint competitions to prepare for the runway portion of the long jump.
Trying to pick up NCAA marks for the Rebels are Kyle Wallace and Ryan Palmer in the pole vault and Stacy Andrews in the discus and hammer throw. Wallace finished third in the pole vault at the SEC Championships, while Andrews, in only his freshman year, has already broken the school record in the hammer throw and finished ninth in that discipline at the SEC Championships.
Field events are scheduled to begin at the George C. Griffin Track at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, with Ole Miss to start at 10:30 a.m., and the running events start at 1:00 p.m., with Ole Miss scheduled to start running at 1:30 p.m.