The University of Mississippi Athletics
Rebels Primed For SEC Track And Field Championships
5/10/2011 | Track and Field
May 10, 2011
SEC Outdoor Championships Central
OXFORD, Miss. - The Southeastern Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships are this Thursday-Sunday in Athens, Ga., and Joe Walker's Ole Miss men and women are ready to show off their talents at one of the nation's elite competitions.
The Rebel men are ranked No. 18 in this week's USTFCCCA poll and are one of seven SEC squads ranked among the nation's top 25 entering the league championships. There are five SEC women's teams in the top 25, while Ole Miss sits in 42nd this week.
"We are excited and ready to go," said Walker, who is in his 29th year as the Rebel head coach. "I really believe our training and previous competitions have us well prepared. The SEC meet is the premier meet in the country in my opinion, and we have high expectations of doing well with both our men and women's teams. I think we are ready for this great challenge ahead of us."
The SEC Outdoor Championships will be featured exclusively on ESPN3.com. More than six hours of coverage of the four-day event begins Saturday at 3 p.m. CDT and concludes Sunday starting at 1 p.m.
Last year's SEC Outdoor Championships saw the Rebel men finish sixth, which was their highest showing since placing sixth in 1993, while the women placed ninth. Previously this year at the NCAA Indoor Championships, both squads earn top-25 national finishes with the men tying for 11th place and the women tying for 23rd.
Both squads again boast a number of athletes ranked highly in the nation with a chance to win league titles and qualify for postseason slots.
After the SEC Championships, athletes will be selected for the NCAA East Regional, which is the first round of the NCAA Championships. The NCAA will select the East region's top 48 athletes in each event (except decathlon, heptathlon and 10,000 meters) to participate at the regional. The performances at the regional will determine who makes the field for the NCAA Championships. The top 24 decathlon, heptathlon and 10,000 meter qualifiers from across the nation will be sent directly to the NCAA Championships.
The NCAA East Preliminary Round will take place May 26-28 in Bloomington, Ind. The NCAA Championships will be held June 8-11 in Des Moines, Iowa.
If the season ended this week, Ole Miss would send male individuals from 15 different events, as well as two relays, to the East Regional. The Rebels would contribute female individuals from 13 events, as well as two relays. In addition, sophomore Brittany Bozeman would qualify for the women's heptathlon competition at the NCAA Championships.
Among the premier Rebel athletes is three-time defending SEC high jump champion Ricky Robertson. The reigning SEC Field Athlete of the Week is tied for second in the nation with a school record-tying jump of 7-05.75 at the Drake Relays. The sophomore has won all three SEC titles in the high jump during his college career. He also ranks 38th in the nation in the long jump (24-10.50).
Senior Lee Ellis Moore ranks fifth in the nation and first among East Division and SEC runners in the 400 meter hurdles with a season-best time of 49.82. His running mate, junior Carson Blanks, is 11th nationally (50.50) and fifth in the East region.
The Rebel sprint duo of sophomore Mike Granger and senior Jonathan Juin have been among the nation's best all year long. Granger ranks 16th in the 100 meters (10.22), while Juin is 13th in the 200 (20.67) and 25th in the 100 (10.29).
Junior Caleb Lee is 17th nationally in the long jump (25-06.00), while sophomore Morris Kersh ranks 22nd in the triple jump (51-07.75).
Defending SEC steeplechase champion Martin Kirui ranks 38th nationally in the 3,000 meter steeple this year with a season-best time of 8:54.45.
Both the men's 4x400 meter relay and the 4x100 meter relay squads are ranked in the top 24 nationally. The 4x400 team of Dante Oliver, Blanks, Christopher Bush and Moore rank 10th among all schools with a season-best time of 3:06.77. The 4x100 team of Granger, Ras-Len Bully, Lee and Juin is 19th with a season-best time of 39.88.
Other Rebel men that would make the NCAA East Regional as of this week include Granger in the 200 meters, Oliver in the 400 meters, Bully in the 400 meter hurdles, Kentrell Sanders in the triple jump and Benjamin Lapane in the javelin.
On the women's side, senior Sofie Persson has a season-best 57.56 in the 400 meter hurdles, which ranks her 15th in the nation this year and seventh among athletes in the East Region. She also anchored the 4x400 meter relay team of Lauren Hollingsworth, Sofia Hellberg-Jonsen and Kristin Bridges that ran a 3:33.22 at the Drake Relays to rank eighth among all NCAA Division I schools this year, second among East region squads, and second-best in school history.
Sophomore Neal Tisher ranks 13th nationally in the pole vault with a school-record leap of 13-09.25 earlier this year.
Two senior throwers rank highly in their events. Juliana Smith is 12th nationally in the hammer throw (school-record 202-11), while Betty Williams is 14th in the discus (school-record 176-11) and 28th in the shot put (52-05.50).
Bridges, a junior, is 24th nationally and sixth in the East region in the 400 meters (53.22).
Sophomore Brittany Bozeman is 24th nationally in the heptathlon (5,290 points), which would automatically qualify her for the NCAA Champioships if she remains in the top 24.
Other Rebel women that would make the NCAA East Regional as of this week include Jasmine Williams in the 100 meters, Hollingsworth in the 400 meters, Hellberg-Jonsen in the 400 meter hurdles, Bozeman in the long jump and javelin, Marci Morman in the long jump, Aria Gaines in the triple jump and the 4x100 meter relay team of Bridges, Gaines, Jasmine Williams and LaJada Baldwin.
