The University of Mississippi Athletics
Wednesday, May 22
Lexington, Ky.
All Day
Ole Miss
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NCAA East Regional
Women’s Track & Field Adds Four National Tickets to Conclude NCAA East Regional
5/25/2024 | Track and Field
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Ole Miss women's track & field sprinters put on a clinic at the fourth and final day of the 2024 NCAA East Regional, punching four more tickets to the national meet in dazzling style on Saturday.
Those four additional entries push Ole Miss' combined men's and women's total for the upcoming outdoor national meet in Oregon to 14 entries from 13 athletes, tied for the second-most entries in school history and trailing only the record 16 entries from the 2021 season. Under ninth-year head coach Connie Price-Smith, the Rebels have had at least nine NCAA entries each season and are averaging 11.1 under her watch. Prior to her arrival in 2016, Ole Miss had tallied nine or more national entries outdoors six times in program history.
Bowerman Watch List member and All-American senior McKenzie Long left nothing to chance on a crucial day of qualifying action, stringing together an impressive trio of performances for three NCAA berths for the second straight season. In 2023, Long became the first Rebel woman to pull off the 100/200/4x100 triple at nationals, and Saturday she booked return passage in all three.
Long opened the day as the second leg of the Rebel women's 4x100-meter relay alongside leadoff Akilah Lewis, third leg Gabrielle Matthews, and anchor leg Jahniya Bowers. The Ole Miss quartet blazed to victory in the third heat and an auto-bid to Oregon at 42.72, the second-fastest time in school history which just two weeks ago would have dismantled their own school record by a half-second.
That time ranks behind their SEC runner-up performance of 42.47, and within the last two months these four Rebels have clocked the top-three fastest and four of the eight fastest 4x100-meter relay times in Ole Miss history.
Ole Miss has now qualified in the women's 4x100 in nine consecutive seasons, and the Rebels will enter NCAAs in Oregon with the second-fastest seed time behind South Carolina's 42.46 run earlier today.
Not even 90 minutes later, Long was back on the track in the 100-meter dash quarterfinal, where she won at a jaw-dropping wind-legal PR of 10.92 (+0.5) to punch her second national ticket of the afternoon. That time – in an event she has now only run twice since March 30 – puts her No. 4 in the United States and No. 5 in the world this season, as well as No. 10 in collegiate history. It also broke Kentucky's facility record, and it ranks second in the history of the East Regional behind LSU's Aleia Hobbs' 10.90 from 2018.
Incredibly, Long went back out barely an hour later and put on a show in her marquee event – the 200-meter dash. The current world leader did not disappoint, either, winning easily for passage to Oregon at 22.10 (+0.5) – the second-best time in East Regional history behind Favour Ofili's 22.08 while at LSU in 2022.
Long is the lone runner worldwide in 2024 with wind-legal times at sub-11.00 and sub-22.10, and in collegiate history she is one of just four with multiple wind-legal 22.10's alongside Ofili (4), Kentucky's Abby Steiner (4) and Texas' Julien Alfred (2) when taking into account Long's SEC-winning and world-leading 22.03 (+0.6) from two weeks ago.
Long wasn't the only one pulling impressive double-duty, however, as SEC Champion and sophomore Gabrielle Matthews also returned to the track within two hours of the relay to book her national ticket in the 400-meter hurdles.
Matthews got a tough draw on the quarterfinals seeding in a heat that featured the reigning NCAA Champion, Savannah Sutherland of Michigan. Matthews was unfazed, though, hanging with her to finish second in the heat for an auto-bid to Oregon at 55.45.
Just two weeks ago that time would have obliterated her own record by more than a second, but now it's just her third sub-56 performance in the last two weeks. Prior to Matthews' arrival at Ole Miss in 2023, no Rebel had broken 57 seconds in the event. Since April 12, Matthews has now done so four times.
Matthews is the first Rebel woman to qualify in the 400-meter hurdles since Sofie Persson in 2011, and she is now one of just three to ever do so alongside Persson (2009, '11) and Brandy Mack (1998, '99, '00).
Jahniya Bowers was also back out for the 100-meter quarterfinal, but fell heartbreakingly short of qualifying for Oregon. She finished one spot shy in 13th at 11.28 (-0.1), just two hundredths of a second short of nabbing a time qualifier.
Other Rebel women competing on Saturday were: Jo-Lauren Keane in the 800-meter quarterfinal (21st, 2:08.01); Mensi Stiff in the discus (26th, 50.06m/164-3); and Sophie Baumann in the 5K semifinal (42nd, 16:58.84).
Ole Miss now has two weeks to prepare for the 2024 NCAA Outdoor Championships, which this year returns to TrackTown USA at the University of Oregon's Hayward Field from June 5-8.
Ole Miss National Qualifiers (14 entries, 13 athletes)
Iangelo Atkinstall-Daley – Men's Triple Jump
Jahniya Bowers – Women's 4x100-Meter Relay
Jake Dalton – Men's Hammer
Jalani Davis – Women's Hammer
Toby Gillen – Men's 5K
Akilah Lewis – Women's 4x100-Meter Relay
McKenzie Long – Women's 100-Meter Dash
McKenzie Long – Women's 200-Meter Dash
McKenzie Long – Women's 4x100-Meter Relay
Gabrielle Matthews – Women's 400-Meter Hurdles
Gabrielle Matthews – Women's 4x100-Meter Relay
Akaoma Odeluga – Women's Shot Put
Tarik Robinson-O'Hagan – Men's Shot Put
Tarik Robinson-O'Hagan – Men's Hammer
Skylar Soli – Women's Hammer
Mensi Stiff – Women's Shot Put
Ahmad Young Jr. – Men's 110-Meter Hurdles
REBELS IN DAY FOUR COMPETITION
Women's 100-Meter Dash – Quarterfinal
1. McKenzie Long – 10.92 (+0.5) AQ – NCAA Qualifier, Wind-Legal Ole Miss Record, Wind-Legal PR, No. 10 Collegiate History, 2024 World No. 5, 2024 U.S. No. 4
13. Jahniya Bowers – 11.28 (-0.1)
Women's 200-Meter Dash – Quarterfinal
1. McKenzie Long – 22.10 (+0.5) AQ – NCAA Qualifier
Women's 800-Meter – Quarterfinal
21. Jo-Lauren Keane – 2:08.01
Women's 5K – Semifinal
42. Sophie Baumann – 16:58.84
Women's 400-Meter Hurdles – Quarterfinal
2. Gabrielle Matthews – 55.45 AQ – NCAA Qualifier
Women's 4x100-Meter Relay – Quarterfinal
2. Lewis, Long, Matthews, Bowers – 42.72 AQ – NCAA Qualifier, No. 2 Ole Miss History
Women's Discus
26. Mensi Stiff – 50.06m/164-3
REBELS IN DAY THREE COMPETITION
Men's 5K – Semifinals
10. Toby Gillen – 13:59.20 AQ – NCAA Qualifier
19. Cole Bullock – 14:08.44
26. Cruz Gomez – 14:16.91
33. Elyas Ayyoub – 14:28.42
Men's 110-Meter Hurdles – Quarterfinals
8. Ahmad Young Jr. – 13.54 (+0.0) AQ – NCAA Qualifier
Men's High Jump
T13. Arvesta Troupe – 2.14m/7-00.25
Women's Pole Vault
T33. Samara McConnell – 3.95m/12-11.50
Men's Triple Jump
10. Iangelo Atkinstall-Daley – 15.77m/51-9 (+0.2) – NCAA Qualifier, Wind-Legal PR
REBELS IN DAY TWO COMPETITION
Women's 100-Meter Dash – First Round
2. McKenzie Long – 11.02 (+1.0) AQ – Wind-Legal SB, T-No. 16 World, T-No. 11 U.S.
17. Jahniya Bowers – 11.36 (-0.3)q
Women's 200-Meter Dash – First Round
2. McKenzie Long – 22.59 (+0.9) AQ
Women's 800-Meter – First Round
18. Jo-Lauren Keane – 2:04.88q – Outdoor PR, No. 3 Ole Miss History
Women's 1500-Meter – First Round
48. Madison Hulsey – 4:37.10
Women's 10K – Semifinal
40. Skylar Boogerd – 34:29.33
Women's 400-Meter Hurdles – First Round
10. Gabrielle Matthews – 57.03 AQ
Women's Shot Put
5. Akaoma Odeluga – 17.26m/56-07.50 – NCAA Qualifier
7. Mensi Stiff – 17.07m/56-0 – NCAA Qualifier, Outdoor PR, No. 5 Ole Miss History
13. Jasmine Mitchell – 16.20m/53-01.75
19. Jalani Davis – 15.81m/51-10.50
Women's Hammer
2. Jalani Davis – 68.54m/224-10 – NCAA Qualifier
11. Skylar Soli – 60.58m/198-9 – NCAA Qualifier
FOUL Jasmine Mitchell
Women's Javelin
40. Abigail Green – 41.40m/135-10
REBELS IN DAY ONE COMPETITION
Men's 800-Meter – First Round
20. Marcus Dropik – 1:49.00
DQ Chase Rose
Men's 1500-Meter – First Round
21. Gabe Scales – 3:44.48
41. Cruz Gomez – 3:48.00
Men's 10K – Semifinal
24. Dereck Elkins – 29:59.13
39. Aiden Britt – 30:36.33
Men's 110-Meter Hurdles – First Round
T6. Ahmad Young Jr. – 13.65 (+2.5) AQ
Men's Pole Vault
T13. Drew O'Connor – 5.32m/17-05.50 – Ties Overall PR, No. 5 Ole Miss History
T32. Logan Kelley – 5.07m/16-07.50
T32. Miles Walden – 5.07m/16-07.50
Men's Shot Put
1. Tarik Robinson-O'Hagan – 20.07m/65-10.25 – NCAA Qualifier
Men's Hammer
2. Tarik Robinson-O'Hagan – 69.33m/227-5 – NCAA Qualifier
10. Jake Dalton – 64.98m/213-2 – NCAA Qualifier
25. Costen Campion – 62.11m/203-9
FOUL Mason Hickel
Men's Javelin
20. Jake Railey – 64.46m/211-6
Those four additional entries push Ole Miss' combined men's and women's total for the upcoming outdoor national meet in Oregon to 14 entries from 13 athletes, tied for the second-most entries in school history and trailing only the record 16 entries from the 2021 season. Under ninth-year head coach Connie Price-Smith, the Rebels have had at least nine NCAA entries each season and are averaging 11.1 under her watch. Prior to her arrival in 2016, Ole Miss had tallied nine or more national entries outdoors six times in program history.
Bowerman Watch List member and All-American senior McKenzie Long left nothing to chance on a crucial day of qualifying action, stringing together an impressive trio of performances for three NCAA berths for the second straight season. In 2023, Long became the first Rebel woman to pull off the 100/200/4x100 triple at nationals, and Saturday she booked return passage in all three.
Long opened the day as the second leg of the Rebel women's 4x100-meter relay alongside leadoff Akilah Lewis, third leg Gabrielle Matthews, and anchor leg Jahniya Bowers. The Ole Miss quartet blazed to victory in the third heat and an auto-bid to Oregon at 42.72, the second-fastest time in school history which just two weeks ago would have dismantled their own school record by a half-second.
That time ranks behind their SEC runner-up performance of 42.47, and within the last two months these four Rebels have clocked the top-three fastest and four of the eight fastest 4x100-meter relay times in Ole Miss history.
Ole Miss has now qualified in the women's 4x100 in nine consecutive seasons, and the Rebels will enter NCAAs in Oregon with the second-fastest seed time behind South Carolina's 42.46 run earlier today.
Not even 90 minutes later, Long was back on the track in the 100-meter dash quarterfinal, where she won at a jaw-dropping wind-legal PR of 10.92 (+0.5) to punch her second national ticket of the afternoon. That time – in an event she has now only run twice since March 30 – puts her No. 4 in the United States and No. 5 in the world this season, as well as No. 10 in collegiate history. It also broke Kentucky's facility record, and it ranks second in the history of the East Regional behind LSU's Aleia Hobbs' 10.90 from 2018.
Incredibly, Long went back out barely an hour later and put on a show in her marquee event – the 200-meter dash. The current world leader did not disappoint, either, winning easily for passage to Oregon at 22.10 (+0.5) – the second-best time in East Regional history behind Favour Ofili's 22.08 while at LSU in 2022.
Long is the lone runner worldwide in 2024 with wind-legal times at sub-11.00 and sub-22.10, and in collegiate history she is one of just four with multiple wind-legal 22.10's alongside Ofili (4), Kentucky's Abby Steiner (4) and Texas' Julien Alfred (2) when taking into account Long's SEC-winning and world-leading 22.03 (+0.6) from two weeks ago.
Long wasn't the only one pulling impressive double-duty, however, as SEC Champion and sophomore Gabrielle Matthews also returned to the track within two hours of the relay to book her national ticket in the 400-meter hurdles.
Matthews got a tough draw on the quarterfinals seeding in a heat that featured the reigning NCAA Champion, Savannah Sutherland of Michigan. Matthews was unfazed, though, hanging with her to finish second in the heat for an auto-bid to Oregon at 55.45.
Just two weeks ago that time would have obliterated her own record by more than a second, but now it's just her third sub-56 performance in the last two weeks. Prior to Matthews' arrival at Ole Miss in 2023, no Rebel had broken 57 seconds in the event. Since April 12, Matthews has now done so four times.
Matthews is the first Rebel woman to qualify in the 400-meter hurdles since Sofie Persson in 2011, and she is now one of just three to ever do so alongside Persson (2009, '11) and Brandy Mack (1998, '99, '00).
Jahniya Bowers was also back out for the 100-meter quarterfinal, but fell heartbreakingly short of qualifying for Oregon. She finished one spot shy in 13th at 11.28 (-0.1), just two hundredths of a second short of nabbing a time qualifier.
Other Rebel women competing on Saturday were: Jo-Lauren Keane in the 800-meter quarterfinal (21st, 2:08.01); Mensi Stiff in the discus (26th, 50.06m/164-3); and Sophie Baumann in the 5K semifinal (42nd, 16:58.84).
Ole Miss now has two weeks to prepare for the 2024 NCAA Outdoor Championships, which this year returns to TrackTown USA at the University of Oregon's Hayward Field from June 5-8.
Ole Miss National Qualifiers (14 entries, 13 athletes)
Iangelo Atkinstall-Daley – Men's Triple Jump
Jahniya Bowers – Women's 4x100-Meter Relay
Jake Dalton – Men's Hammer
Jalani Davis – Women's Hammer
Toby Gillen – Men's 5K
Akilah Lewis – Women's 4x100-Meter Relay
McKenzie Long – Women's 100-Meter Dash
McKenzie Long – Women's 200-Meter Dash
McKenzie Long – Women's 4x100-Meter Relay
Gabrielle Matthews – Women's 400-Meter Hurdles
Gabrielle Matthews – Women's 4x100-Meter Relay
Akaoma Odeluga – Women's Shot Put
Tarik Robinson-O'Hagan – Men's Shot Put
Tarik Robinson-O'Hagan – Men's Hammer
Skylar Soli – Women's Hammer
Mensi Stiff – Women's Shot Put
Ahmad Young Jr. – Men's 110-Meter Hurdles
REBELS IN DAY FOUR COMPETITION
Women's 100-Meter Dash – Quarterfinal
1. McKenzie Long – 10.92 (+0.5) AQ – NCAA Qualifier, Wind-Legal Ole Miss Record, Wind-Legal PR, No. 10 Collegiate History, 2024 World No. 5, 2024 U.S. No. 4
13. Jahniya Bowers – 11.28 (-0.1)
Women's 200-Meter Dash – Quarterfinal
1. McKenzie Long – 22.10 (+0.5) AQ – NCAA Qualifier
Women's 800-Meter – Quarterfinal
21. Jo-Lauren Keane – 2:08.01
Women's 5K – Semifinal
42. Sophie Baumann – 16:58.84
Women's 400-Meter Hurdles – Quarterfinal
2. Gabrielle Matthews – 55.45 AQ – NCAA Qualifier
Women's 4x100-Meter Relay – Quarterfinal
2. Lewis, Long, Matthews, Bowers – 42.72 AQ – NCAA Qualifier, No. 2 Ole Miss History
Women's Discus
26. Mensi Stiff – 50.06m/164-3
REBELS IN DAY THREE COMPETITION
Men's 5K – Semifinals
10. Toby Gillen – 13:59.20 AQ – NCAA Qualifier
19. Cole Bullock – 14:08.44
26. Cruz Gomez – 14:16.91
33. Elyas Ayyoub – 14:28.42
Men's 110-Meter Hurdles – Quarterfinals
8. Ahmad Young Jr. – 13.54 (+0.0) AQ – NCAA Qualifier
Men's High Jump
T13. Arvesta Troupe – 2.14m/7-00.25
Women's Pole Vault
T33. Samara McConnell – 3.95m/12-11.50
Men's Triple Jump
10. Iangelo Atkinstall-Daley – 15.77m/51-9 (+0.2) – NCAA Qualifier, Wind-Legal PR
REBELS IN DAY TWO COMPETITION
Women's 100-Meter Dash – First Round
2. McKenzie Long – 11.02 (+1.0) AQ – Wind-Legal SB, T-No. 16 World, T-No. 11 U.S.
17. Jahniya Bowers – 11.36 (-0.3)q
Women's 200-Meter Dash – First Round
2. McKenzie Long – 22.59 (+0.9) AQ
Women's 800-Meter – First Round
18. Jo-Lauren Keane – 2:04.88q – Outdoor PR, No. 3 Ole Miss History
Women's 1500-Meter – First Round
48. Madison Hulsey – 4:37.10
Women's 10K – Semifinal
40. Skylar Boogerd – 34:29.33
Women's 400-Meter Hurdles – First Round
10. Gabrielle Matthews – 57.03 AQ
Women's Shot Put
5. Akaoma Odeluga – 17.26m/56-07.50 – NCAA Qualifier
7. Mensi Stiff – 17.07m/56-0 – NCAA Qualifier, Outdoor PR, No. 5 Ole Miss History
13. Jasmine Mitchell – 16.20m/53-01.75
19. Jalani Davis – 15.81m/51-10.50
Women's Hammer
2. Jalani Davis – 68.54m/224-10 – NCAA Qualifier
11. Skylar Soli – 60.58m/198-9 – NCAA Qualifier
FOUL Jasmine Mitchell
Women's Javelin
40. Abigail Green – 41.40m/135-10
REBELS IN DAY ONE COMPETITION
Men's 800-Meter – First Round
20. Marcus Dropik – 1:49.00
DQ Chase Rose
Men's 1500-Meter – First Round
21. Gabe Scales – 3:44.48
41. Cruz Gomez – 3:48.00
Men's 10K – Semifinal
24. Dereck Elkins – 29:59.13
39. Aiden Britt – 30:36.33
Men's 110-Meter Hurdles – First Round
T6. Ahmad Young Jr. – 13.65 (+2.5) AQ
Men's Pole Vault
T13. Drew O'Connor – 5.32m/17-05.50 – Ties Overall PR, No. 5 Ole Miss History
T32. Logan Kelley – 5.07m/16-07.50
T32. Miles Walden – 5.07m/16-07.50
Men's Shot Put
1. Tarik Robinson-O'Hagan – 20.07m/65-10.25 – NCAA Qualifier
Men's Hammer
2. Tarik Robinson-O'Hagan – 69.33m/227-5 – NCAA Qualifier
10. Jake Dalton – 64.98m/213-2 – NCAA Qualifier
25. Costen Campion – 62.11m/203-9
FOUL Mason Hickel
Men's Javelin
20. Jake Railey – 64.46m/211-6
Players Mentioned
Jumps
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Distance
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Distance
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Distance
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Sprints
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Distance
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Distance
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Throws
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Throws
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Throws
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Distance
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Distance
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Distance
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Distance
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Javelin
/ Track and Field
Throws
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Distance
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Distance
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Pole Vault
/ Track and Field
Sprints
/ Track and Field
Sprints
/ Track and Field
Sprints
/ Track and Field
Pole Vault
/ Track and Field
Throws
/ Track and Field
Pole Vault
/ Track and Field
Throws
/ Track and Field
Javelin
/ Track and Field
Throws
/ Track and Field
Distance
/ Track and Field
Distance
/ Track and Field
Throws
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Throws
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Jumps
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Pole Vault
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Sprints
/ Track and FieldThe Season: New Heights (2025)
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