The University of Mississippi Athletics
Rebel Men Repeat as SEC Distance Medley Relay Champions
2/28/2020 | Track and Field
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Ole Miss Has Won Six of Last Seven SEC Men’s DMR Titles
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Ole Miss track & field kept the tradition alive, snaring its sixth conference title in the men's distance medley relay in the last seven years at a productive first day of action at the 2020 SEC Indoor Championships on Friday evening.
The Ole Miss distance squad has been hampered by injuries throughout the indoor season, but the Rebel quartet of Nick Moulai (1200-meter), James Burnett (400-meter), Baylor Franklin (800-meter) and Waleed Suliman (mile) executed its race strategy to perfection, edging out the NCAA's seventh-ranked DMR squad in Arkansas by a little more than a second at the finish line with a winning time of 9:40.95.
"We knew that Arkansas was going to be right on our tail, but we knew we were going to try as hard as possible to break them off from the beginning and just try to hand the baton off in first or second," Suliman said to SEC Network analyst Larra Overton postrace.
That is exactly what the Rebels did, and it all started with an excellent 1200-meter leg out of redshirt freshman Nick Moulai, who was running in his first conference meet. Moulai was able to hand the stick off to Burnett in second place after running a 1200-meter leg at 2:59.13. Burnett was able to keep the Rebels in the hunt with a 47.41 effort on the 400-meter exchange, but sophomore Baylor Franklin turned the tide with the fastest 800-meter leg of the night at 1:51.49.
Franklin's efforts helped close in on what was a big lead built up by Missouri, and that was all the momentum that Suliman – the reigning SEC mile champion and school record holder – would need to take the lead and hold off a surging Arkansas for the win after a smooth 4:02.94 mile anchor.
"Our plan of attack was to just get out there hard, feel it out for the first 800 meters, give over the stick in the last four and hopefully pass the stick first," Moulai said. "Luckily, we were able to do that. It was huge to get a bit of a gap on Arkansas, because that gap made the job easier for Waleed."
The win helps build upon the stellar reputation Ole Miss has created in the middle distance events, as Friday's win stands as the sixth men's DMR title in the last seven years that has come home with the Rebels. Ole Miss won four in a row from 2014-17 before now going back-to-back again in 2019 and 2020.
"We're happy for the win," Suliman said. "It's not just for us, it's for all of our teammates back in Oxford, too."
That wasn't even Suliman's first mile of the day, as the junior set about defending his SEC mile title earlier that day. Suliman was able to punch his ticket to Saturday's final after clocking the second-best prelim time at 4:07.51, earning an auto-qualifier spot in the first heat. Joining him in Saturday's final will be junior Everett Smulders, who snagged a time qualifier spot in the second heat. Smulders finished with Second-Team All-SEC honors as the third-place finisher in the mile in 2018.
In 2019, Suliman helped Ole Miss become the first school in SEC history to win five consecutive mile titles after defeating Arkansas' Cameron Griffith by three hundredths of a second.
Ole Miss received two additional finals qualifying performances in the middle distance events on Friday as well. Junior Maddie King ran the third-fastest prelim time in the women's mile at 4:51.13, finishing third in a hotly-contested Heat One to earn an auto-qualifier spot into the final. Junior John Rivera Jr., meanwhile, fought his way through a bumpy men's 800-meter prelim to earn an AQ spot, finishing second in Heat Two and eighth overall in the prelim at 1:52.42.
However, the prelim performance of the day came from sophomore sprinter Jayda Eckford, who dismantled the Ole Miss record in the 200-meter dash with a spectacular performance. Eckford finished second in Heat One of the prelim, running a PR of more than three tenths of a second at 23.29 to topple All-American Teneeshia Jones' 2001 record of 23.36. Eckford now owns both the indoor and outdoor 200-meter records, as last summer she ran a wind-legal 22.98 (+0.6) and an NCAA wind-legal 22.72 (+2.2) on the same day at the U.S. U20 Championships.
Ole Miss also had a handful of additional scorers get points onto the board in the team standings for the Rebels. Sophomore Tedreauna Britt and freshman Jalani Davis earned eight points combined in the women's shot put, as Britt took fourth place at 15.96m (52-04.50) and Davis sixth at a career-best 15.86m (52-00.50).
The Rebel women's distance medley relay of Ylvi Traxler (1200-meter), Toni Glatz (400-meter), Loral Winn (800-meter) and Skylar Boogerd (mile) followed in the footsteps of the Ole Miss men, finishing fifth at 11:33.52 – the sixth-fastest time in school history.
Ole Miss also had a handful of additional scorers in men's competition on Friday, with Allen Gordon taking fifth in the long jump at 7.82m (25-08.00), while Peyton Weissmann (fifth) and Cole Colozzo (seventh) combined for six points in the pole vault after both cleared 5.11m (16-09.25).
Competition resumes at Day Two for the Rebels with the men's and women's high jump finals, which both begin at 1:15 p.m. CT.
Men's Team Scores (Through Five Events):
1. #10 Arkansas – 35
2. #8 Tennessee – 32
T3. Missouri – 20
T3. Ole Miss – 20
5. #23 Alabama – 18
6. #19 Kentucky – 17
7. #13 Texas A&M – 16
T8. #3 Florida – 12
T8. #2 LSU – 12
10. #6 Georgia – 8
11. South Carolina – 4
12. Mississippi State – 1
13. Auburn – 0
Women's Team Scores (Through Five Events):
1. #3 Arkansas – 36
2. #5 Texas A&M – 28
3. #2 Georgia – 27
4. Tennessee – 21
5. #17 Alabama – 19
6. #6 Kentucky – 13
7. #20 Ole Miss – 12
8. Missouri – 10
9. #11 Florida – 9
T10. Auburn – 6
T10. #1 LSU – 6
12. Mississippi State – 5
13. Vanderbilt – 3
14. South Carolina – 0
Day One Medalists:
James Burnett – Men's DMR, Gold Medal
Baylor Franklin – Men's DMR, Gold Medal
Nick Moulai – Men's DMR, Gold Medal
Waleed Suliman – Men's DMR, Gold Medal
Other Day One Scorers:
Tedreauna Britt – Women's Shot Put, 4th Place
Ylvi Traxler – Women's DMR, 5th Place
Toni Glatz – Women's DMR, 5th Place
Loral Winn – Women's DMR, 5th Place
Skylar Boogerd – Women's DMR, 5th Place
Allen Gordon – Men's Long Jump, 5th Place
Peyton Weissmann – Men's Pole Vault, 5th Place
Jalani Davis – Women's Shot Put, 6th Place
Cole Colozzo – Men's Pole Vault, 7th Place
Day One Finals Qualifiers:
Jayda Eckford – Women's 200-Meter Dash
Maddie King – Women's Mile
John Rivera Jr. – Men's 800-Meter
Everett Smulders – Men's Mile
Waleed Suliman – Men's Mile
OTHER REBELS IN DAY ONE COMPETITION:
Men's 60-Meter Dash Prelims:
14. Elijah Dryer – 6.85
Women's 60-Meter Dash Prelims:
10. Brandee Presley – 7.40
13. Kelly Rowe – 7.51
Men's 200-Meter Dash Prelims:
18. Elijah Dryer – 21.33
Women's 200-Meter Dash Prelims:
19. Kelly Rowe – 24.14
20. Kirstin Jones – 24.19
Men's 400-Meter Dash Prelims:
18. James Burnett – 47.77
Men's Mile Prelims:
13. Parker Scott – 4:14.11
Men's 5K Final:
10. Ben Savino – 14:37.15 – PR, No. 15 all-time
11. Farah Abdulkarim – 14:41.11
13. Michael Coccia – 14:44.04
Women's 5K Final:
13. Anna Elkin – 16:50.36
Women's Long Jump:
12. Kieshonna Brooks – 5.81m (19-00.75)
13. Kaira Simmons – 5.81m (19-00.75)
Men's Shot Put:
9. Danny Guiliani – 17.42m (57-02.00)
10. Daniel Viveros – 17.24m (56-06.75)
Women's Shot Put:
11. Jasmine Mitchell – 15.07m (49-05.50) – PR, 7th all-time
Women's Pentathlon:
12. Kieshonna Brooks – 3,710 Points
4. 60-Meter Hurdles – 8.47 (1,024 Points)
18. High Jump – 1.62m/5-03.75 (759 Points) – PR
12. Shot Put – 10.64m/34-11.00 (571 Points)
6. Long Jump – 5.77m/18-11.25 (780 Points)
17. 800-Meter – 2:39.76 (576 Points)
17. Sara Van Aken – 3,424 Points
18. 60-Meter Hurdles – 9.23 (862 Points) – PR
T-7. High Jump – 1.68m/5-06.00 (830 Points)
20. Shot Put – 9.43m/30-11.25 (492 Points)
17. Long Jump – 5.32m/17-05.50 (648 Points)
15. 800-Meter – 2:38.34 (592 Points)
For more information on Ole Miss Track & Field and Cross Country, follow the Rebels on Twitter (@OleMissTrack), Facebook and Instagram.
The Ole Miss distance squad has been hampered by injuries throughout the indoor season, but the Rebel quartet of Nick Moulai (1200-meter), James Burnett (400-meter), Baylor Franklin (800-meter) and Waleed Suliman (mile) executed its race strategy to perfection, edging out the NCAA's seventh-ranked DMR squad in Arkansas by a little more than a second at the finish line with a winning time of 9:40.95.
"We knew that Arkansas was going to be right on our tail, but we knew we were going to try as hard as possible to break them off from the beginning and just try to hand the baton off in first or second," Suliman said to SEC Network analyst Larra Overton postrace.
"It's not only just for us, it's for all of our teammates back in Oxford, too."
— Ole Miss Track&Field (@OleMissTrack) February 29, 2020
Way to keep the tradition alive, boys. 👏#HottyToddy | #OneMore pic.twitter.com/mnzgDuhBzP
That is exactly what the Rebels did, and it all started with an excellent 1200-meter leg out of redshirt freshman Nick Moulai, who was running in his first conference meet. Moulai was able to hand the stick off to Burnett in second place after running a 1200-meter leg at 2:59.13. Burnett was able to keep the Rebels in the hunt with a 47.41 effort on the 400-meter exchange, but sophomore Baylor Franklin turned the tide with the fastest 800-meter leg of the night at 1:51.49.
Franklin's efforts helped close in on what was a big lead built up by Missouri, and that was all the momentum that Suliman – the reigning SEC mile champion and school record holder – would need to take the lead and hold off a surging Arkansas for the win after a smooth 4:02.94 mile anchor.
"Our plan of attack was to just get out there hard, feel it out for the first 800 meters, give over the stick in the last four and hopefully pass the stick first," Moulai said. "Luckily, we were able to do that. It was huge to get a bit of a gap on Arkansas, because that gap made the job easier for Waleed."
The win helps build upon the stellar reputation Ole Miss has created in the middle distance events, as Friday's win stands as the sixth men's DMR title in the last seven years that has come home with the Rebels. Ole Miss won four in a row from 2014-17 before now going back-to-back again in 2019 and 2020.
"We're happy for the win," Suliman said. "It's not just for us, it's for all of our teammates back in Oxford, too."
That wasn't even Suliman's first mile of the day, as the junior set about defending his SEC mile title earlier that day. Suliman was able to punch his ticket to Saturday's final after clocking the second-best prelim time at 4:07.51, earning an auto-qualifier spot in the first heat. Joining him in Saturday's final will be junior Everett Smulders, who snagged a time qualifier spot in the second heat. Smulders finished with Second-Team All-SEC honors as the third-place finisher in the mile in 2018.
In 2019, Suliman helped Ole Miss become the first school in SEC history to win five consecutive mile titles after defeating Arkansas' Cameron Griffith by three hundredths of a second.
Ole Miss received two additional finals qualifying performances in the middle distance events on Friday as well. Junior Maddie King ran the third-fastest prelim time in the women's mile at 4:51.13, finishing third in a hotly-contested Heat One to earn an auto-qualifier spot into the final. Junior John Rivera Jr., meanwhile, fought his way through a bumpy men's 800-meter prelim to earn an AQ spot, finishing second in Heat Two and eighth overall in the prelim at 1:52.42.
However, the prelim performance of the day came from sophomore sprinter Jayda Eckford, who dismantled the Ole Miss record in the 200-meter dash with a spectacular performance. Eckford finished second in Heat One of the prelim, running a PR of more than three tenths of a second at 23.29 to topple All-American Teneeshia Jones' 2001 record of 23.36. Eckford now owns both the indoor and outdoor 200-meter records, as last summer she ran a wind-legal 22.98 (+0.6) and an NCAA wind-legal 22.72 (+2.2) on the same day at the U.S. U20 Championships.
Ole Miss also had a handful of additional scorers get points onto the board in the team standings for the Rebels. Sophomore Tedreauna Britt and freshman Jalani Davis earned eight points combined in the women's shot put, as Britt took fourth place at 15.96m (52-04.50) and Davis sixth at a career-best 15.86m (52-00.50).
The Rebel women's distance medley relay of Ylvi Traxler (1200-meter), Toni Glatz (400-meter), Loral Winn (800-meter) and Skylar Boogerd (mile) followed in the footsteps of the Ole Miss men, finishing fifth at 11:33.52 – the sixth-fastest time in school history.
Ole Miss also had a handful of additional scorers in men's competition on Friday, with Allen Gordon taking fifth in the long jump at 7.82m (25-08.00), while Peyton Weissmann (fifth) and Cole Colozzo (seventh) combined for six points in the pole vault after both cleared 5.11m (16-09.25).
Competition resumes at Day Two for the Rebels with the men's and women's high jump finals, which both begin at 1:15 p.m. CT.
Men's Team Scores (Through Five Events):
1. #10 Arkansas – 35
2. #8 Tennessee – 32
T3. Missouri – 20
T3. Ole Miss – 20
5. #23 Alabama – 18
6. #19 Kentucky – 17
7. #13 Texas A&M – 16
T8. #3 Florida – 12
T8. #2 LSU – 12
10. #6 Georgia – 8
11. South Carolina – 4
12. Mississippi State – 1
13. Auburn – 0
Women's Team Scores (Through Five Events):
1. #3 Arkansas – 36
2. #5 Texas A&M – 28
3. #2 Georgia – 27
4. Tennessee – 21
5. #17 Alabama – 19
6. #6 Kentucky – 13
7. #20 Ole Miss – 12
8. Missouri – 10
9. #11 Florida – 9
T10. Auburn – 6
T10. #1 LSU – 6
12. Mississippi State – 5
13. Vanderbilt – 3
14. South Carolina – 0
Day One Medalists:
James Burnett – Men's DMR, Gold Medal
Baylor Franklin – Men's DMR, Gold Medal
Nick Moulai – Men's DMR, Gold Medal
Waleed Suliman – Men's DMR, Gold Medal
Other Day One Scorers:
Tedreauna Britt – Women's Shot Put, 4th Place
Ylvi Traxler – Women's DMR, 5th Place
Toni Glatz – Women's DMR, 5th Place
Loral Winn – Women's DMR, 5th Place
Skylar Boogerd – Women's DMR, 5th Place
Allen Gordon – Men's Long Jump, 5th Place
Peyton Weissmann – Men's Pole Vault, 5th Place
Jalani Davis – Women's Shot Put, 6th Place
Cole Colozzo – Men's Pole Vault, 7th Place
Day One Finals Qualifiers:
Jayda Eckford – Women's 200-Meter Dash
Maddie King – Women's Mile
John Rivera Jr. – Men's 800-Meter
Everett Smulders – Men's Mile
Waleed Suliman – Men's Mile
OTHER REBELS IN DAY ONE COMPETITION:
Men's 60-Meter Dash Prelims:
14. Elijah Dryer – 6.85
Women's 60-Meter Dash Prelims:
10. Brandee Presley – 7.40
13. Kelly Rowe – 7.51
Men's 200-Meter Dash Prelims:
18. Elijah Dryer – 21.33
Women's 200-Meter Dash Prelims:
19. Kelly Rowe – 24.14
20. Kirstin Jones – 24.19
Men's 400-Meter Dash Prelims:
18. James Burnett – 47.77
Men's Mile Prelims:
13. Parker Scott – 4:14.11
Men's 5K Final:
10. Ben Savino – 14:37.15 – PR, No. 15 all-time
11. Farah Abdulkarim – 14:41.11
13. Michael Coccia – 14:44.04
Women's 5K Final:
13. Anna Elkin – 16:50.36
Women's Long Jump:
12. Kieshonna Brooks – 5.81m (19-00.75)
13. Kaira Simmons – 5.81m (19-00.75)
Men's Shot Put:
9. Danny Guiliani – 17.42m (57-02.00)
10. Daniel Viveros – 17.24m (56-06.75)
Women's Shot Put:
11. Jasmine Mitchell – 15.07m (49-05.50) – PR, 7th all-time
Women's Pentathlon:
12. Kieshonna Brooks – 3,710 Points
4. 60-Meter Hurdles – 8.47 (1,024 Points)
18. High Jump – 1.62m/5-03.75 (759 Points) – PR
12. Shot Put – 10.64m/34-11.00 (571 Points)
6. Long Jump – 5.77m/18-11.25 (780 Points)
17. 800-Meter – 2:39.76 (576 Points)
17. Sara Van Aken – 3,424 Points
18. 60-Meter Hurdles – 9.23 (862 Points) – PR
T-7. High Jump – 1.68m/5-06.00 (830 Points)
20. Shot Put – 9.43m/30-11.25 (492 Points)
17. Long Jump – 5.32m/17-05.50 (648 Points)
15. 800-Meter – 2:38.34 (592 Points)
For more information on Ole Miss Track & Field and Cross Country, follow the Rebels on Twitter (@OleMissTrack), Facebook and Instagram.
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