The University of Mississippi Athletics
Track & Field Wins Three USTFCCCA South Region Awards
6/14/2024 | Track and Field
NEW ORLEANS – Ole Miss track & field came away with three honors in the USTFCCCA regional awards release on Friday, with head coach Connie Price-Smith (South Region Women's Head Coach), assistant coach Holland Sherrer (South Region Women's Assistant Coach) and sophomore Tarik Robinson-O'Hagan (South Region Men's Field Athlete) all winning for the Rebels.
Price-Smith – who is in her ninth season in Oxford – is the first head coach in program history to win the regional honor on the track, indoors or outdoors. Last week, Price-Smith led the Rebel women to another program record fifth-place finish – tying the overall combined Ole Miss record set just this past indoor season by the Rebel women. Helping spur that was a triple crown sweep of the women's 100-meter, 200-meter and 4x100-meter relay – one of only seven such sweeps in Division I history.
In nine years at Ole Miss, Price-Smith has shattered bests throughout the school record book and put the Rebels on the map as legitimate contenders across the indoor, outdoor and cross country seasons.
On the track, Price-Smith's Rebel teams own 17 of the 40 total top-25 NCAA finishes in Ole Miss history – including 10 of the 14 such finishes in Rebel women's history. Prior to this season, no Rebel team – men or women – had ever finished top-five at the national meet. That gets even more impressive when compressed to just top-10 finishes, with Price-Smith owning all four Rebel women's top-10 finishes and two of the five in Ole Miss men's history.
Fourth-year sprints coach Holland Sherrer played a key role in that fifth-place team finish, coaching all three NCAA title winning performances worth 32 of Ole Miss' 38 total points at the outdoor national meet.
Sherrer mentored world 200-meter leader McKenzie Long, who became only the 15th in Division I history to sweep the women's 100 and 200-meter dashes while becoming the second-fastest collegian all-time in the 200 (21.83/+1.0) and the 10th-fastest in the 100 (10.91/+0.0). Long owns the three fastest 200-meter times in the world this season, and she is the lone woman in collegiate history with multiple wind-legal sub-22 second times.
Sherrer also coached the national title winning 4x100-meter relay of Akilah Lewis, McKenzie Long, Gabrielle Matthews and Jahniya Bowers. Their victory made Ole Miss one of seven in Division I history to sweep the 100, 200 and 4x1, and it made Long one of just six women to win all three. In the semifinal round, the Rebel women crossed the line in a blazing 42.22 – making Ole Miss the fifth-best collegiate relay of all-time.
Robinson-O'Hagan, meanwhile, is only the second Rebel men's athlete to ever win multiple regional athlete of the year honors, as well as the second in combined program history to sweep within the same season alongside four-time Olympian, Brittney Reese.
The Woonsocket, Rhode Island native completed the indoor/outdoor sweep of the men's shot put NCAA titles, winning last week at an outdoor PR and school record of 20.88m/68-6. Combined with his indoor victory, Robinson-O'Hagan is the youngest to complete the season sweep since 1989 and the third youngest of all time.
Robinson-O'Hagan earned two First-Team All-America honors outdoors worth 12 NCAA points, which adds on to his impressive 20 SEC points via two dominant wins at the outdoor conference meet. For his efforts outdoors, he won both SEC Men's Field Athlete of the Year and the SEC Commissioner's Trophy given to the top points scorer at the conference meet. Robinson-O'Hagan is one of three in SEC history to sweep the men's shot put and hammer in the same season, one of two in SEC history to break 68 feet in the shot put in the same conference meet field series, and one of only three collegians since 2015 to be at 20 meters in the shot put and 72 in the hammer.
Ole Miss USTFCCCA Regional Track Athlete of the Year Winners, All-Time
2007 – Brittney Reese (Women's Indoor Field, South Region)
2007 – John Yarbrough (Men's Outdoor Track, Mideast Region)
2008 – Brittney Reese (Women's Indoor Field, South Region)
2008 – Brittney Reese (Women's Outdoor Field, South Region)
2012 – Ricky Robertson (Men's Outdoor Field, South Region)
2013 – Isiah Young (Men's Outdoor Track, South Region)
2014 – Ricky Robertson (Men's Outdoor Field, South Region)
2016 – Raven Saunders (Women's Indoor Field, South Region)
2024 – Jalani Davis (Women's Indoor Field, South Region)
2024 – Tarik Robinson-O'Hagan (Men's Indoor Field, South Region)
2024 – Tarik Robinson-O'Hagan (Men's Outdoor Field, South Region)
Ole Miss USTFCCCA Regional Track Coach of the Year Winners, All-Time
2008 – Bryan O'Neal (Women's Indoor Assistant, South Region)
2015 – Ryan Vanhoy (Men's Outdoor Assistant, South Region)
2016 – Ryan Vanhoy (Men's Indoor Assistant, South Region)
2017 – John Smith (Women's Indoor Assistant, South Region)
2017 – Ryan Vanhoy (Men's Indoor Assistant, South Region)
2021 – Ryan Vanhoy (Men's Indoor Assistant, South Region)
2024 – Connie Price-Smith (Women's Outdoor Head Coach, South Region)
2024 – Holland Sherrer (Women's Outdoor Assistant, South Region)
Price-Smith – who is in her ninth season in Oxford – is the first head coach in program history to win the regional honor on the track, indoors or outdoors. Last week, Price-Smith led the Rebel women to another program record fifth-place finish – tying the overall combined Ole Miss record set just this past indoor season by the Rebel women. Helping spur that was a triple crown sweep of the women's 100-meter, 200-meter and 4x100-meter relay – one of only seven such sweeps in Division I history.
In nine years at Ole Miss, Price-Smith has shattered bests throughout the school record book and put the Rebels on the map as legitimate contenders across the indoor, outdoor and cross country seasons.
On the track, Price-Smith's Rebel teams own 17 of the 40 total top-25 NCAA finishes in Ole Miss history – including 10 of the 14 such finishes in Rebel women's history. Prior to this season, no Rebel team – men or women – had ever finished top-five at the national meet. That gets even more impressive when compressed to just top-10 finishes, with Price-Smith owning all four Rebel women's top-10 finishes and two of the five in Ole Miss men's history.
Fourth-year sprints coach Holland Sherrer played a key role in that fifth-place team finish, coaching all three NCAA title winning performances worth 32 of Ole Miss' 38 total points at the outdoor national meet.
Sherrer mentored world 200-meter leader McKenzie Long, who became only the 15th in Division I history to sweep the women's 100 and 200-meter dashes while becoming the second-fastest collegian all-time in the 200 (21.83/+1.0) and the 10th-fastest in the 100 (10.91/+0.0). Long owns the three fastest 200-meter times in the world this season, and she is the lone woman in collegiate history with multiple wind-legal sub-22 second times.
Sherrer also coached the national title winning 4x100-meter relay of Akilah Lewis, McKenzie Long, Gabrielle Matthews and Jahniya Bowers. Their victory made Ole Miss one of seven in Division I history to sweep the 100, 200 and 4x1, and it made Long one of just six women to win all three. In the semifinal round, the Rebel women crossed the line in a blazing 42.22 – making Ole Miss the fifth-best collegiate relay of all-time.
Robinson-O'Hagan, meanwhile, is only the second Rebel men's athlete to ever win multiple regional athlete of the year honors, as well as the second in combined program history to sweep within the same season alongside four-time Olympian, Brittney Reese.
The Woonsocket, Rhode Island native completed the indoor/outdoor sweep of the men's shot put NCAA titles, winning last week at an outdoor PR and school record of 20.88m/68-6. Combined with his indoor victory, Robinson-O'Hagan is the youngest to complete the season sweep since 1989 and the third youngest of all time.
Robinson-O'Hagan earned two First-Team All-America honors outdoors worth 12 NCAA points, which adds on to his impressive 20 SEC points via two dominant wins at the outdoor conference meet. For his efforts outdoors, he won both SEC Men's Field Athlete of the Year and the SEC Commissioner's Trophy given to the top points scorer at the conference meet. Robinson-O'Hagan is one of three in SEC history to sweep the men's shot put and hammer in the same season, one of two in SEC history to break 68 feet in the shot put in the same conference meet field series, and one of only three collegians since 2015 to be at 20 meters in the shot put and 72 in the hammer.
Ole Miss USTFCCCA Regional Track Athlete of the Year Winners, All-Time
2007 – Brittney Reese (Women's Indoor Field, South Region)
2007 – John Yarbrough (Men's Outdoor Track, Mideast Region)
2008 – Brittney Reese (Women's Indoor Field, South Region)
2008 – Brittney Reese (Women's Outdoor Field, South Region)
2012 – Ricky Robertson (Men's Outdoor Field, South Region)
2013 – Isiah Young (Men's Outdoor Track, South Region)
2014 – Ricky Robertson (Men's Outdoor Field, South Region)
2016 – Raven Saunders (Women's Indoor Field, South Region)
2024 – Jalani Davis (Women's Indoor Field, South Region)
2024 – Tarik Robinson-O'Hagan (Men's Indoor Field, South Region)
2024 – Tarik Robinson-O'Hagan (Men's Outdoor Field, South Region)
Ole Miss USTFCCCA Regional Track Coach of the Year Winners, All-Time
2008 – Bryan O'Neal (Women's Indoor Assistant, South Region)
2015 – Ryan Vanhoy (Men's Outdoor Assistant, South Region)
2016 – Ryan Vanhoy (Men's Indoor Assistant, South Region)
2017 – John Smith (Women's Indoor Assistant, South Region)
2017 – Ryan Vanhoy (Men's Indoor Assistant, South Region)
2021 – Ryan Vanhoy (Men's Indoor Assistant, South Region)
2024 – Connie Price-Smith (Women's Outdoor Head Coach, South Region)
2024 – Holland Sherrer (Women's Outdoor Assistant, South Region)
Players Mentioned
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