JACKSON, Miss. – Mississippi University for Women's track and field teams continued set a total of 10 school records on Saturday at the Belhaven Invitational. There were five new standards set each for the women's and men's teams.
For the Owl ladies, freshman
Ty'Kerria Young leaped 5.03 meters in the long jump, erasing
Erin Jones' previous record of 4.80 meters set in 2023, and placing third overall. Young then destroyed the MUW 100-meter hurdles mark – lopping off better that one-and-three-quarter seconds, with a time of 16.37 seconds (besting the 18.03 seconds of
Kaitlyn McRee from the 2023 campaign).
In the 100-meter dash, sophomore
Michaiah Adams hit the tape at 12.36 seconds to undercut the 12.39 time of
Loren Winters in 2022. While Adams set the record in the 100 on Saturday, she lost her 200-meter record to teammate
Vonisha Towns, who crossed the line at 26.09 seconds at the Belhaven meet (beating Adams' 2023 mark of 26.30 seconds).
Freshman distance specialist
Hannah Owens established the MUW record for the 5,000-meter run as the first Owls' runner to attempt the event. Owens finished second in the race in a time of 20:48.50 minutes for the grueling race.
On the men's side, sophomore
Jourden Whitfield was a part of three record efforts. Whitfield was fourth overall in the javelin toss at 45.03 meters, which bettered his own previous MUW record of 40.20m). Whitfield then claimed the 200-meter mark - from teammate
Dedrick Gates (22.81 in the 2024 opener) - with a run of 22.54 seconds at Belhaven.
Gates did add the 400-meter hurdles record to his portfolio, a time of 1:04.31 minutes, as the first MUW runner to attempt th event in the program's brief history.
Gates and Whitfield – along with
Andra Williams and
Kobe Smith – made up the quartet that established a school record in the 4x100-meter relay. The group finished in a clocking of 43.74 seconds (lowering the mark of 44.04 previously).
The final record set on Saturday came via senior thrower
Tanner Collins. In the men's shot put, Collins ever-so-slightly bettered his own record with a heave of 12.30 meters (was 12.29m) and a seventh-place finish.
