courtesy Mississippi
Jan. 16, 2016
Complete Results
LEXINGTON, Ky. – A record-breaking performance by sophomore thrower Raven Saunders led the way for the Ole Miss Rebels at the Kentucky Invitational this weekend.
Already a two-time NCAA shot put champion as a freshman at Southern Illinois last year, Saunders was up to the task of setting new standards in her second meet as a member of the No. 25 Rebels. Her personal-best effort of 18.67m/61-3 on Saturday is the best in the world this year and improves her status as the No. 4 women’s shot putter in NCAA history.
Saunders broke her own Ole Miss record (by two-and-a-half feet) and eclipsed the Kentucky Invitational meet record and the Nutter Field House record. She became the first Rebel, male or female, to ever break the 60-foot mark in the shot put. The previous school record before Saunders’ arrival in Oxford was 52-8.25 by Betty Williams in 2010.
“Anytime you break a record it’s a great day, and Raven had a great day,” said head coach Connie Price-Smith, who led her team to success against such competition as No. 8 Kentucky, No. 17 Miami, Louisville, Ohio State, Pittsburgh, Southern Illinois and others. “There is still room for improvement, and she will keep working hard every day to throw farther and farther.”
This followed Saunders’ Friday performance in the weight throw when she posted another personal best with a distance of 19.61m/64-4 that ranks her third in school history and top 20 in the nation this year.
Fellow sophomore and All-American Lindsey Murray claimed the women’s pole vault title in Lexington with a clearance of 4.01m/13-1.75. She ranks 25th in the country in the young season.
All-American senior Khadijah Suleman led the way among the Rebels sprinters with a personal-best 7.48 to place third in the 60-meter dash and a time of 24.57 to place eighth in the 200.
Several women had career days in the middle distances, as Maddy Nikkel and Elisabeth Gaillet clocked personal bests of 5:00.74 and 5:01.61 in the mile to finish third and fifth, respectively. Leanne Zimmer was runner-up in the 800 meters in 2:12.04, followed by Maddie McHugh in fourth at 2:16.21.
The Ole Miss men, competing without their standout group of distance runners, still produced some strong results among the throwers and jumpers, in particular.
Sophomore Dempsey McGuigan achieved a personal-best weight throw of 19.32m/63-4.75 on Friday night. That moved him up to No. 2 in school history in his second year with the program.
Senior Branden Greene took the weekend off from his normal activities as one of the nation’s best high jumpers to focus solely on the long jump, at which he placed fourth with a nice leap of 7.23m/23-8.75.
Senior Darryl Brown matched his season-best 200-meter time of 21.55 from the season opener to place fourth on Saturday. He also finished sixth in the 60 with a time of 6.91 in the final after a 6.90 in the prelims.
“I thought the meet went well,” Price-Smith said. “It’s early and we still have work to do, but it was nice to see that most of our athletes did the training over break that they were supposed to.”
Ole Miss will return to action next weekend at the Conference Clash in Birmingham, Alabama, which will feature a who’s who among collegiate track & field programs such as SEC schools Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, South Carolina and Tennessee and non-SEC powers Arizona, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Ohio State, USC and Texas.
Complete Results
LEXINGTON, Ky. – A record-breaking performance by sophomore thrower Raven Saunders led the way for the Ole Miss Rebels at the Kentucky Invitational this weekend.
Already a two-time NCAA shot put champion as a freshman at Southern Illinois last year, Saunders was up to the task of setting new standards in her second meet as a member of the No. 25 Rebels. Her personal-best effort of 18.67m/61-3 on Saturday is the best in the world this year and improves her status as the No. 4 women’s shot putter in NCAA history.
Saunders broke her own Ole Miss record (by two-and-a-half feet) and eclipsed the Kentucky Invitational meet record and the Nutter Field House record. She became the first Rebel, male or female, to ever break the 60-foot mark in the shot put. The previous school record before Saunders’ arrival in Oxford was 52-8.25 by Betty Williams in 2010.
“Anytime you break a record it’s a great day, and Raven had a great day,” said head coach Connie Price-Smith, who led her team to success against such competition as No. 8 Kentucky, No. 17 Miami, Louisville, Ohio State, Pittsburgh, Southern Illinois and others. “There is still room for improvement, and she will keep working hard every day to throw farther and farther.”
This followed Saunders’ Friday performance in the weight throw when she posted another personal best with a distance of 19.61m/64-4 that ranks her third in school history and top 20 in the nation this year.
Fellow sophomore and All-American Lindsey Murray claimed the women’s pole vault title in Lexington with a clearance of 4.01m/13-1.75. She ranks 25th in the country in the young season.
All-American senior Khadijah Suleman led the way among the Rebels sprinters with a personal-best 7.48 to place third in the 60-meter dash and a time of 24.57 to place eighth in the 200.
Several women had career days in the middle distances, as Maddy Nikkel and Elisabeth Gaillet clocked personal bests of 5:00.74 and 5:01.61 in the mile to finish third and fifth, respectively. Leanne Zimmer was runner-up in the 800 meters in 2:12.04, followed by Maddie McHugh in fourth at 2:16.21.
The Ole Miss men, competing without their standout group of distance runners, still produced some strong results among the throwers and jumpers, in particular.
Sophomore Dempsey McGuigan achieved a personal-best weight throw of 19.32m/63-4.75 on Friday night. That moved him up to No. 2 in school history in his second year with the program.
Senior Branden Greene took the weekend off from his normal activities as one of the nation’s best high jumpers to focus solely on the long jump, at which he placed fourth with a nice leap of 7.23m/23-8.75.
Senior Darryl Brown matched his season-best 200-meter time of 21.55 from the season opener to place fourth on Saturday. He also finished sixth in the 60 with a time of 6.91 in the final after a 6.90 in the prelims.
“I thought the meet went well,” Price-Smith said. “It’s early and we still have work to do, but it was nice to see that most of our athletes did the training over break that they were supposed to.”
Ole Miss will return to action next weekend at the Conference Clash in Birmingham, Alabama, which will feature a who’s who among collegiate track & field programs such as SEC schools Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, South Carolina and Tennessee and non-SEC powers Arizona, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Ohio State, USC and Texas.
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