HottyToddy.com’s Daily Ole Miss Sports Roundup

HottyToddy.com is giving readers a roundup of all the commentary and information about the Ole Miss Rebels from various publications around the Web.

Readers will be able to check out the latest information in a single post every day throughout the year. Here at HottyToddy.com, we are doing all the leg work to find the information that people may want to hear about Ole Miss sports.

Today’s roundup feature stories from Ole Miss Sports.

Incoming Ole Miss Volleyball Player Earns Bid to USA Junior Beach Nationals

Coach Steven McRoberts

Incoming Ole Miss volleyball freshman Nicole Purcell (Leawood, Kansas) is back in the headlines, this time for her prowess on the sand. Purcell teamed with fellow KC-Power Club team member Tessa Reid to earn a bid to the USA Volleyball Beach Junior National Championships later this summer.

Purcell and Reid finished first in the 18U division at the USA Great Plains Beach Tour held at The Mark in Elkhorn, Nebraska last weekend to earn a spot in the championships. The duo beat Lucy Kaufman and Sarah Wilson of St. Louis, Missouri in the final.

The championships will take place July 22-24 at Bradford Beach in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The USAV Junior Beach Tour has more than 60 events in 24 states and 26 USAV regions. Tournaments consist of pool play with 4-5 teams.

Last month Purcell was named a PrepVolleyball.com Defensive Dandy Lion. A four-year starter and three-time state champion, Purcell also earned PrepVolleyball.com All-American honorable mention honors last fall. This spring, she helped lead KC Power to a berth in the Girls Junior 18 Open National Championship, also held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

For more information on Ole Miss Volleyball, follow the Rebels on Twitter, @OleMissVB, on Facebook at OleMissVolleyball and on Instagram at OleMissVB. Also follow Coach McRoberts on Twitter, @CoachMcRoberts.

Courtesy of Ole Miss Sports

Ole Miss Men Begin NCAA Championships with a Bang

2015-2016 Track
Photo by Joshua McCoy/Ole Miss Athletics

The first day of the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships went almost as well as it possibly could have for No. 18 Ole Miss men.

Sophomore Dempsey McGuigan placed eighth in the hammer throw to score a team point and secure first team All-America honors, while three of the four Rebel runners advanced to their respective finals that will take place Friday at Oregon’s historic Hayward Field.

Wednesday’s first event of the championships, the hammer throw, was a good one for McGuigan. After missing out on a trip to Eugene by one spot at last year’s NCAA East Preliminary, the London, U.K., native made sure he took advantage of his visit to Track Town USA. After three throws, he was the ninth and last man to make the final for three extra attempts. He moved up one spot with a mark of 69.23m/227-1, just off his personal best and school record of 69.90m/229-4.

McGuigan is the first man in school history to score NCAA points in the hammer throw and the first to score in any throwing event since Colin Moleton placed eighth in the javelin in 2010.

Ole Miss had an historic performance in the 1500-meter semifinals, as sophomore Craig Engelsand junior Robert Domanic became the first two men in program history to advance to the NCAA final in the event. The top five finishers in each of the two semifinal heats advanced to Friday’sfinal, and Engels and Domanic secured their spots by placing third (3:49.40) and fourth (3:49.48), respectively, in heat one.

Sophomore MJ Erb also punched his ticket to Friday’s final in the 3000-meter steeplechase by running a personal-best 8:34.13, good for sixth-fastest in Wednesday’s semifinals. He remains No. 2 in school history behind Barnabas Kirui, who was the last Rebel to make the NCAA final in 2010. Kirui won the national title in that event back in 2007.

The only Rebel who didn’t advance to a final on Wednesday was senior Holland Sherrer, who placed 10th in the 800 meters with a near personal-best time of 1:47.34. By placing 10th, he will earn second team All-America status.

The schedule for Ole Miss athletes the rest of the championships is as follows:

Thursday
6:32 p.m. CT – W 4×100 Semifinals – Heat 3: Ole Miss (Nicole Henderson, Shannon Ray, Breanna Tate, Khadijah Suleman)
7:00 p.m. CT – W Pole Vault – Lindsey Murray
8:30 p.m. CT – W Shot Put – Flight 2: Raven Saunders

Friday
7:00 p.m. CT – M High Jump – Branden Greene
7:42 p.m. CT – M 1500m Final – Robert Domanic, Craig Engels
7:54 p.m. CT – M 3000m Steeple Final – MJ Erb
9:25 p.m. CT – M 5000m Final – Ryan Walling

Saturday
5:32 p.m. CT – W 4x100m Relay Final (if qualified) – Ole Miss (Henderson, Ray, Tate, Suleman)

TV schedule for the remainder of the championships:

– Thursday, June 9 – 12:30-10:30 p.m. CT – ESPN3/WatchESPN
– Thursday, June 9 – 6:30-7 p.m. CT – ESPNU
– Thursday, June 9 – 7-9:30 p.m. CT – ESPN
– Friday, June 10 – 2:30-10 p.m. CT – ESPN3/WatchESPN
– Friday, June 10 – 7:30-10 p.m. CT – ESPN
– Saturday, June 11 – 1:30-8 p.m. CT – ESPN3/WatchESPN
– Saturday, June 11 – 5:30-8 p.m. CT – ESPN

For more information on Ole Miss Track & Field, follow the Rebels on Twitter at @OleMissTrack, as well as Facebook and Instagram.

WEDNESDAY RESULTS

800 Meter Semifinals
10. Holland Sherrer – 1:47.34

1500 Meter Semifinals
14. Craig Engels – 3:49.40Q
15. Robert Domanic – 3:49.48Q

3000 Meter Steeplechase Semifinals
6. MJ Erb – 8:34.13q

Hammer Throw
8. Dempsey McGuigan – 69.23m/227-1 (1 point)

Courtesy of Ole Miss Sports

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