The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
NCAA Championships
Young Advances To 60-Meter Finals At NCAA Championships
3/10/2012 | Track and Field
March 10, 2012
NCAA Championships Central
NAMPA, Idaho - Senior Isiah Young highlighted day one of the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships for the Ole Miss Rebels Friday at the Jacksons Indoor Track.
The former Allen Community College product clocked a season-best 6.61 (6.609) in the prelims of the 60 meters to finish eighth overall and earn the last spot in Saturday's final. His time ties him for third in Rebel history (with former standout James Shelton) on the all-time 60-meter chart.
Young's teammate and last year's NCAA runner-up in the event, All-American Mike Granger, missed the finals by .001 of a second, running a time of 6.61 (6.610) to finish ninth overall.
"It's just heartbreaking for us, because Granger was the NCAA runner-up (last year)," Rebel head coach Joe Walker said. "He ran well. He just got unlucky. I'm really excited for Isiah and really heartbroken for Granger."
Senior All-American Caleb Lee competed in the long jump Friday. He jumped a distance of 24-6.25 to finish 10th in the nation in the event. It was his second straight top-16 performance at the NCAA Indoor Championships. He finished 15th a season ago.
Junior All-American Ricky Robertson, junior pole vaulter Neal Tisher and sophomore pentathlete Fabia McDonald will join Young to compete in their scheduled events Saturday.
Robertson will participate in two events Saturday. He will begin with the high jump at 4 p.m CT. Following the high jump, he is scheduled to compete in the triple jump at 6:30 p.m CT. The Hernando, Miss. native currently ranks fifth nationally in the high jump (7-4.5) and 15th in the triple jump (51-11).
Tisher will compete in the pole vault at 6 p.m. CT. She is coming off her best performance of the season last weekend at the Alabama High Tide Qualifier where she broke her previous school record with a new career-best height of 13-11. Heading in, she ranks 12th nationally in the event.
McDonald will begin the pentathlon at noon CT. Last year's SEC Female Freshman Field Athlete of the Year for the indoor season, McDonald ranks 14th nationally in the event.
Young will perform in the 60-meter finals at 8:15 p.m. CT Saturday.
