After the Ole Miss track team kicked off their outdoor season in late March, the Rebels continued their strong campaign with three meets in early April: a split squad for the LSU and Stanford invites and the Joe Walker Invite at home.
The Rebels saw many big moments in the first half of April, including two broken distance school records and numerous new all-time marks.
LSU Battle on the Bayou
At the LSU meet on April 3-4, Tarik Robinson-O’Hagan showed that he is not just the best thrower in the nation, but that he is in a league of his own.
Prior to the LSU meet, Robinson-O’Hagan already held the top NCAA shot put mark, and at LSU he widened the gap with his 20.81 meter throw. Still undefeated outdoors, Robinson-O’Hagan now holds a 0.74 meter (2.4 foot) lead over the second best athlete in the country.
Thanks in large part to his dominance, the Rebel men’s team ranked No. 6 in the SEC and No. 9 in the nation on the April 7 rankings list.
Stanford Invite
On the same weekend as LSU, the Rebels sent their distance crew to the Stanford Invite, and came home with two new school records.
In the first section of the men’s 10,000 meter race, Kidus Misgina ran 28:17.69 and broke his own school record. In the women’s 5,000 meter race, Beth Arentz ran 15:51.89 and beat the school record by nearly three seconds.
Distance coach Adam Smith said that although school records were not the men’s goal for the weekend, everyone knew they were capable of the needed speed.
“We didn’t really try to hit a super fast one, but it kind of organically happened,” Smith said in an interview with The Daily Mississippian. “Hader (Misgina) and Aiden (Britt) started just clocking off 800s alternating, and then Hader ended up closing pretty good.”
For the ladies, Smith said the 5K record was in their sights, and it was anyone’s to take.
“We put them (Beth Arentz and Sophie Baumann) in heat three specifically to try to run that mark of breaking 16 minutes,” Smith said. “The school record was in mind, but honestly we had three girls out there that could have done it.”
Ole Miss Joe Walker Invite
On April 10-11, the Rebels returned for their final home meet of the season. The sprinters shined all weekend despite windy conditions on Saturday.
Patchnalie Compere kicked off the meet on Friday evening with a comeback win in the women’s 200-meter dash. Compere ran a 22.96 personal best that earned her both the No. 3 time in Rebel history and the Haitian national record. Just behind her was Alicia Burnett who ran 23.34 for the No. 8 all-time mark.
Both ladies returned the next day for the 4×100 meter relay. This time, along with Zion Lockette and Royanah Farmer, the relay blew away the field in a 43.65 season best and No. 7 time in Rebel history.
What’s next?
The Rebels have just two more meets before the outdoor SEC Championships and will look to fine tune their performances and enter peak championship form.
The Rebels next meet is the Virginia Challenge on April 17-18 hosted by the University of Virginia. Results can be found here once the meet starts.
