COLUMBUS — It was another busy week for the Mississippi University for Women’s spring season athletic teams. As the school year wraps up, so does the athletic calendar with the Owls eyeing gold medals in St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play across four sports.
Baseball
The W baseball team kept within reach of the top spot in the conference with a comfortable doubleheader win on the road against Lyon College on Saturday, taking both contests, 10-2 and 8-1, respectively.
Zach Johnson continued his prolific showing at the plate this season with five hits and a pair of RBI over the two games. Landon Clark and Baron Brack added to the show with three RBI apiece, and Clark added another win to his tally on the season with the Game 1 showing on the mound.
Clark, the men’s Owl of the Year, recorded eight strikeouts and while allowing just two earned runs in 7.1 innings of work in the 10-2 win. Campbell McCluney followed in Game 2 with six punchouts and just one earned run in 7 innings of work.
The Owls have just one series left, beginning Saturday with a doubleheader against Westminster College at Columbus Christian Academy.
Golf
The W golf team closed out the 2024-25 regular season at the Millikin “Take Back the Night” Challenge last weekend, recording Top 10 team finishes for both the men and women.
The Owls men’s team finished in 4th place as a team, with senior Zach Riley tying for 3rd in the individual standings. Luke Yocum followed with a 13th place finish while Matt Wilkinson, 23rd, Cameron James, 48th, and Matthew Phillips, 54th, rounded out the point tally for the Owls.
Riley earned his third SLIAC Golfer of the Week award this season with his performance.
The Owls women’s team finished in 8th in the team standings, ending their year with a pair of Top-20 finishes from Ashley Estabrook, 17th, and Sara Grace Ramey, 19th.
The men will prepare to defend their SLIAC title at the conference tournament next week in Edinburgh, In. The tournament begins on May 4.
Softball
The Owls softball team celebrated Senior Day with a doubleheader sweep of Blackburn College, including a walk-off Game 1 win from freshman Brooklyn Rhodes. Her sacrifice flyball to center field had the distance to allow Riley Phillips a path home from third base for the 3-2 win, a moment which school photographer Chris Jenkins captured on camera.
The Game 1 win carried over into Game 2 as the Owls scored seven runs before Blackburn could get on the board, winning 7-2.
The team followed up the weekend with a trip to Kentucky to face SLIAC leaders Spalding University in a Monday doubleheader. The Owls split the matchup, taking Game 1, 2-1, before losing a close Game 2, 11-9.
The results kept the Owls within striking distance of the top seed in the conference, one game back from Spalding and two games back from Greenville with two SLIAC doubleheaders left in the season. Next weekend they’ll travel to Fulton, Mo., for a Saturday matchup with Westminster College, and then it’s on to St. Louis for the regular season finale at Webster University.
Track and Field
Over the weekend, the Owls finished the 2024-25 season at the SLIAC Outdoor Championships in Greenville, Ill., collecting 12 medals total, including gold medals for distance runner Hannah Owens in the 10,000-meter event and Cortland Earl in the 110-meter high hurdle event.
Owens successfully defended her title in the long-distance run, finishing with a time of 43:27.00 on Friday. The next day, she earned 2nd place in the 5,000-meter race.
Earl, who was also named Freshman of the Year for the men’s track events, picked up his gold medal with a school-record time of 15.60 in the hurdle race. His teammate, Allen Fields, finished just behind him with a time of 15.98.
Other medalists for the women’s team included Brooklyn Kelley, who finished 2nd in the shot put event and was tabbed as the women’s track Freshman of the Year, Princess Lofton, who finished 2nd in the 400-meter hurdle, and the 3rd place 4×100 relay team of Maraiah Shannon, Michaiah Adamas, Vonisha Towns and Kelyise Faulkner.
On the men’s side, medalists included Noel Kellum, who earned 2nd place in the men’s discus.
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