Track & Field Makes Waves at Ole Miss
At the Joe Walker Invitational, the teams broke records and earned podium finishes.
Both the men’s and women’s track & field teams competed at the Joe Walker Invitational in Oxford, Mississippi, hosted at the Ole Miss track facility from April 4-5. At the meet, the Choctaws grabbed four podium finishes, numerous NCAA Division II provisional marks and several lifetime bests.
The Mississippi College throwers started and ended the meet in impressive fashion. Both Rebecca Zweerink and her teammate Kennedy Thompson broke the school record for the women’s discus. Thompson ultimately walked away with the record, as well as a lifetime best of 42.18m.
“Overall, I’m proud of my performance this weekend,” Thompson said. “The hammer didn’t go as planned, but I had a huge breakthrough in the discus, as I PR’d and set a new school record. I had been struggling with this event and wasn’t seeing the results from practice transfer over to competition, so it feels really good to just trust the process and believe in what I can do.”
“One thing this meet taught me was just to be patient and trust the process,” Thompson said. “God has a plan for us, and our time is coming.”
Events began on Friday, April 4 with PRs in the 200m from both Hilary Udechukwu and Livia Fisher, who placed 17th and 18th respectively. That momentum carried into the 800 that saw Cole Benoit run a season best of 1:51.47, which was good for a new #38 in Division II. In the invite 1500s, Taylor Benoit secured 10th on the women’s side with a new Division II #32, and Sid Stegall ran a well-executed race on the men's side in a time that puts him fourth in the GSC.
After those events, the final event of the night took place: the 5000m run, which featured six Choctaw athletes. On a windy night, the squad executed a race that saw them take 5 of the top 10 spots.
“It was really nerve-racking, to be honest,” freshman Sam Haber said. “I don’t usually get nervous or nauseous before races, but about five minutes before the gun went off, it hit me all at once. Nonetheless, I knew I had to get out there and believe that I belonged in the race.”
Haber was the only freshman the Choctaws entered in the field. He was looking to improve on his already terrific freshman campaign.
On Saturday, the sprinting events took full focus. The 100m squad of Davion Smith, Damone Daniels, and Jamric Hill took to the blocks in a very competitive field. Hill, a veteran on the team, described the performance of the crew as very encouraging. “The sprints as a whole did a fantastic job with a lot of season’s bests, personal records and even competed to the best of their ability,” Hill said.
“I just try being the encourager of the team, trying to lift everyone up, and remind them that not every day is going to be a PR but it’s about did I give it my all, and in the end thanking God for the ability to run for his glory,” Hill said.
Other highlights of the day include Livia Fisher running a PR of 11.98 in the 100m, Hilary Udechukwu finishing 9th in a competitive 400m field, and Jamaric Hill running a season best in the 200m.
Two of the final Saturday events saw Oliver Ollesch and Matias Vasquez run both the 400m hurdles and the 4x400m relay within roughly 20 minutes of each other. Ollesch and Vasquez secured fourth and fifth, respectively, with a PR from Ollesch. Not 20 minutes later, the duo helped the MC 4x400m team reach a #9 rank among all the 4x400m teams in Division II.
“It was a solid day for both races; I ran my second best time ever in the hurdles, which gave me confidence for the next meet,” Vasquez said. “In the 4x400, we ran a good time for the first time running with the A team, so we can definitely cut some time off in the weeks coming.”
“I just try to take it event by event,” Vasquez said. “I was in my head a little bit after the hurdles, but I tried to just forget about it in the moment and give my all on the relay.”
The Choctaws will have a split squad this week with a couple of distance runners competing at Lee University at The Fast Break Athletics Invitational on Friday, April 11, and the rest of the squad competing at the Rhodes Seven Way meet on Saturday, April 12.
 | A guest post by
|