The University of Mississippi Athletics
Five Rebels Earn Indoor All-America Honors
3/14/2011 | Track and Field
March 14, 2011
OXFORD, Miss. - Highlighted by four first team All-America honorees, the Ole Miss track and field team had five student-athletes named to the U.S Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Indoor All-America teams, the organization announced Monday.
Three members of the men's team and two members from the women's team earned the All-America honors. The men's team narrowly missed a top-10 finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships over the weekend, taking 11th overall while the women's team nearly cracked the top-20, finishing 23rd.
Sophomore Mike Granger earned first team All-America honors with his second-place finish in the 60 meters with a time of 6.55. The Hickory, Miss., native set a school record with a 6.59 in the prelims before breaking that one in his very next race. The old record of 6.60 had stood for 17 years.
Sophomore Ricky Robertson also garnered first-team honors with his second-place finish in the high jump (7-03.75). Robertson is a three-time SEC Champion in the high jump and now a two-time NCAA runner-up.
Junior Caleb Lee took home second team All-America honors with his 15th-place finish in the long jump with a mark of 24-03.75.
On the women's side, junior Sofie Persson, who finished third overall at the NCAA Indoor Championships in the 800 meters, also earned first team All-America accolades. She ran a 2:04.89, and her third-place showing is the top 800 meter NCAA finish in school history.
Senior Juliana Smith recorded a fifth-place finish in the weight throw (66-11.50) to garner first-team honors. The mark broke Smith's own school record and gives her the distinction of being the first female in school history to score points in the weight throw at the NCAA Championships.
Granger, Robertson and Persson had all received All-America honors in previous years. Lee and Smith took home the national accolades for the first time.
