The University of Mississippi Athletics
Track & Field’s McKenzie Long Named USTFCCCA National Athlete of the Week
5/13/2024 | Track and Field
NEW ORLEANS – Ole Miss track & field All-American senior McKenzie Long has been named the USTFCCCA National Women's Athlete of the Week for Division I, the association announced on Monday afternoon.
Long is the first Ole Miss athlete to earn the national weekly honor during the outdoor season, and the first overall since Mario Garcia Romo won in Week One of the 2020 cross country season. Long is the first Rebel to win during the track season since two-time Olympian Raven Saunders, who was named the weekly winner twice during the 2016 indoor season.
This past week, Long repeated as the SEC champion in the women's 200-meter dash at a world-leading and SEC meet record wind-legal PR of 22.03 (+0.6), which ranks her No. 5 in collegiate history and No. 22 in the history of the United States. Long is the first repeat champion in the SEC women's 200-meter since LSU's Kimberlyn Duncan, who won three in a row from 2011-13. In that same timespan, no school repeated as champion, let alone the same athlete. Long won by a margin of 0.08 over a stacked field that included three NCAA Champions from this past indoor season.
She also ran the second leg of Ole Miss' 4x100-meter relay that finished as SEC runners-up at 42.47, ranking the Rebels No. 7 in collegiate history and No. 4 all-time among SEC schools. This season, that ranks No. 2 in the NCAA and No. 7 in the world, and it dismantled the previous Ole Miss record of 43.31 set at Florida on April 13. In the combined history of the Ole Miss program, it ties for the best SEC 4x1 finish ever along with the 1984 men's silver medal team.
Up next, Rebel athletes who are qualified and declared will travel to the University of Kentucky for the NCAA East Regional, held May 22-25 in Lexington, Kentucky.
Long is the first Ole Miss athlete to earn the national weekly honor during the outdoor season, and the first overall since Mario Garcia Romo won in Week One of the 2020 cross country season. Long is the first Rebel to win during the track season since two-time Olympian Raven Saunders, who was named the weekly winner twice during the 2016 indoor season.
This past week, Long repeated as the SEC champion in the women's 200-meter dash at a world-leading and SEC meet record wind-legal PR of 22.03 (+0.6), which ranks her No. 5 in collegiate history and No. 22 in the history of the United States. Long is the first repeat champion in the SEC women's 200-meter since LSU's Kimberlyn Duncan, who won three in a row from 2011-13. In that same timespan, no school repeated as champion, let alone the same athlete. Long won by a margin of 0.08 over a stacked field that included three NCAA Champions from this past indoor season.
She also ran the second leg of Ole Miss' 4x100-meter relay that finished as SEC runners-up at 42.47, ranking the Rebels No. 7 in collegiate history and No. 4 all-time among SEC schools. This season, that ranks No. 2 in the NCAA and No. 7 in the world, and it dismantled the previous Ole Miss record of 43.31 set at Florida on April 13. In the combined history of the Ole Miss program, it ties for the best SEC 4x1 finish ever along with the 1984 men's silver medal team.
Up next, Rebel athletes who are qualified and declared will travel to the University of Kentucky for the NCAA East Regional, held May 22-25 in Lexington, Kentucky.
Players Mentioned
Sprints
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