The University of Mississippi Athletics
Two Track And Field Rebels To Compete At NCAA Championships
3/10/2009 | Track and Field
Persson set a new school record in the 800 meters at the SEC Indoor Championships with a time of 2:05.38 and currently ranks eighth in the nation in the event. Persson is scheduled to compete in the preliminaries Friday at 6 p.m., while the finals will take place Saturday at 6:20 p.m. “I am very proud of both LaJada and Sofie,” Ole Miss head coach Joe Walker said. “Sofie did not even run the 800 meters until this year, and it’s amazing how well she has done so far. LaJada was our first freshman to make the NCAA meet a year ago, and she has taken up where she left off by running even faster this year.” Several other Rebels just missed qualifying for the championships, including sophomore Juliana Smith in the weight throw. Smith, who set a new school record in the event with a mark of 63-04.25 last weekend, was less than a foot off the final mark that was selected to compete at the championships. The women’s 4x400 meter relay team of Jasmine Dacus, Persson, Britney Barnard and Baldwin was just .34 off the final qualifying mark of 3:36.52 set by “We were very disappointed that our women’s 4x400 meter relay team and Juliana missed out by such a slim margin,” Three other Rebels are ranked amongst the top-50 in their respective events and were all in consideration for competition at the championships. Senior Kyle Lewis is currently ranked 39th in the nation in the 5000 meters after recording the third fastest time in school history with a mark of 14:05.11 at the SEC Indoor Championships. Senior jumper Wale Odetunde stands 48th in the nation in the triple jump following a mark of 50-08.00 he set earlier in the year at the Kentucky Invitational. Junior Davina Orieukwu was also considered after she set a new school record at the Arkansas Last Chance Meet in the shot put with a distance of 50-07.50. She is currently ranked 35th in the nation in the event.
