BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Mississippi University for Women track and field matched or broke nine school records over the weekend, competing at the Samford University Open and the KMS Invitational on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. Both events were contested at the CrossPlex in Birmingham.
“This weekend’s meets were brutal for the team,” Owls head coach Dedrick Burnett said. “I challenged everyone, physically, to do multiple events. We had a few personal best times and marks achieved. Overall, best performance goes to Aziyah Mcghee. She had an amazing weekend, setting two personal bests and running on both women’s record relay teams.”
“We’re off for the next two weeks, so we’re going to work on some minor things to prepare for that meet.”
Mcghee — along with teammates Michaiah Adams, Vonisha Towns, and Kaitlyn McRee — first established the 4x400m relay record at Samford, running a 4:26.34-minute time. The quartet then set its sights on the 4x200m record at the KMS meet, clocking a 1:50.08 and placing fifth.
Not to be outdone, their male counterparts — Jourden Whitfield, Dedrick Gates, Tavonta Macon and Brandon Brown — posted a men’s 4×200-meter relay record of 1:37.66. On Saturday, Macon, Whitfield, Brown and Joshua Gonsalves etched their names under the 4×400-meter record in a time of 3:55.92 minutes.
At Saturday’s Samford Open, Macon lowered his own time in the 400m to 53.64 seconds. On the women’s side, Adams sliced some time off of her own 200-meter mark, finishing at 27.19 seconds.
On Sunday, in addition to the pair of 4x200m relay records, McRee lopped off better than five full seconds in the women’s 600-meters. McRee raced to a clocking of 1:49.71 minutes and notched the best placement by an Owl all weekend with a third in the race.
In the men’s 800, Gonsalves crossed the line at 2:09.42, besting his own record set just a week ago by nearly a second. In the men’s shot put, Tanner Collins set a new indoor mark for the second time this season with a heave of 11.22 meters.
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