COLUMBUS — What a weekend it was for Mississippi University of Women track and field, opening up its indoor season at the University of Alabama-Birmingham Vulcan Invitational on Saturday and the Emory University Crossplex Showdown on Sunday.
It was a record-breaking weekend in so many ways for the Owls, setting a dozen new school records across the two events..
The UAB meet featured a diet of upper-division teams, while the Emory event allowed the Owls to compete versus more schools their own size.
“I had no expectations coming into this weekend’s meets,” head coach Dedrick Burnett said in Monday’s press release. “I just wanted the kids to have fun and show me that they actually did some of the workouts over the Christmas break.”
Things began on Saturday with freshman Ty’lerria Young breaking a school record with a 9.67 second time in the 60-meter hurdles. In weight throw, fellow freshman Arie’Onna McCollum set a new Owls’ mark with a 10.63-meter throw.
In men’s events on Saturday, junior Dedrick Gates tied the long jump record with a mark of 6.01 meters and senior Tanner Collins set a new MUW shot put record with a throw of 11.84 meters. That record lasted all of 24 hours.
Collins broke his own shot put record with a throw of 12.05 meters on Sunday, one of eight new school records set at Emory. Gates broke two records of his own at the Crossplex Showdown, a 7.28 second effort in the 60-meter dash and a 23.17 second finish in the 200-meter dash.
Additionally, Sinaj Lynn set a new MUW record in the 300-meter dash, finishing with a time of 45.17 seconds.
In women’s events, Young set a new triple jump record with a mark of 10.29 meters while McCollum shattered MUW’s women’s shot put record with a mark of 9.42 meters.
Finishing things off on the track, junior Kalee Sanders bested her own mark in the women’s mile with a time of 6:51.63, while in women’s 300-meter dash, Vonisha Towns broke the Owls’ mark by four seconds, finishing with a time of 44.44 seconds.
“I must say this was probably the best opening weekend for us since the program started and we were missing some of our top runners,” Burnett said.
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