Young Repeats As SEC Champ

Young wins SEC Commissioner’s Trophy as high points scorer.

Photo by Joshua McCoy / Ole Miss Sports

Senior Isiah Young successfully defended his SEC 200 meter title and finished runner-up in the 100 meters to lead Ole Miss on the final day of the 2013 Southeastern Conference Outdoor Championships Sunday.

With his performances, Young was the men’s high points scorer at the meet with 18.5 points and earned the SEC Commissioner’s Trophy. He is Ole Miss’ first Commissioner’s Trophy outdoor recipient since Barnabas Kirui in 2010.

Young helped the No. 16 nationally ranked Rebel men score 39 team points and finish eighth overall. The Rebel women scored nine points to place 14th overall.

“We had some good performances, but by and large it was not the outcome that we expected,” said first-year head coach Brian O’Neal.

Arkansas claimed the 2013 SEC outdoor title for the men with 152.5 team points, while Texas A&M won the women’s title in its first year in the league with a total of 117 points.

Young, a 2012 London Olympian, ran a sensational 20.20 to blow away the eight-man field and win his second straight 200-meter league title, earning 10 team points for Ole Miss. That time set a track record at Missouri’s Audrey J. Walton Stadium and is the best in the NCAA and No. 3 in the world this year. It was just off his school record of 20.16 from last year’s U.S. Olympic Trials.

The Junction City, Kan., native nearly pulled off the sprint double with a narrow defeat in the 100 meters. He crossed the line in 10.14, just two-hundredths of a second behind winner Diondre Batson of Alabama (10.12). By himself, Young scored 18 of the Rebels’ 39 team points on the weekend.

“After I lost the 100, I had to refocus and just stick to my plan in the 200 and that’s to run my own race,” said Young after his title run. “At SECs, it seems like after I get a couple races out of the way I’m ready for the 200. I was able to take advantage of the competition and the weather today, and I should run faster as the year goes on.”

Young is the first Rebel to win back-to-back 200-meter titles since Tony Dees in 1983 and 1984 and the first 100-meter runner-up since Greg Saddler in 1994.

Sophomore Sam Kendricks placed runner-up in the SEC outdoor pole vault for the second straight year and earned eight team points for Ole Miss. The current world leader at 19-0.75, Kendricks turned in a clearance of 18-1 to finish second to Arkansas’ Andrew Irwin.

Senior Morris Kersh leapt to a personal-best 51-9 to place fourth in the men’s triple jump and earn five team points. That mark moves him into a tie for ninth place in school history and into the top 20 in the NCAA this year.

Sophomore Robert Semien finished fourth in the men’s 110-meter hurdle final with a strong run of 14.21 against a headwind of -2.1. It’s his highest SEC finish in his two-year career.

The men’s 4×100 relay squad of Montez Griffin, Anthony Branch, Creighton Serrette and Young placed seventh in 39.85, which ranks that unit fourth-best in school history.

Sophomore Malcolm Davis turned in a 10th-place result in the high jump with a clearance of 6-8.75. It was tied for the seventh-best clearance, but he dropped to 10th based on misses.

Earlier in the weekend, freshman Peyton Moss scored a point for the men with an eighth-place result in the decathlon.

On the women’s side, the 4×100 meter relay squad of Shari Russell, Destiny Lundy, Jasmine Williams and Asia Coopercame in fifth place with a time of 45.48, notching four points for the Rebels.

Senior Marci Morman placed 10th in the triple jump (40-11.75), while Haley Cutright set a new personal best in the 5,000 meters with a 16:43.54 to place 11th. That time keeps Cutright second-best in school history.

Earlier in the weekend, junior Mary Ashton Nall earned a fourth-place result in the heptathlon to score five points for Ole Miss.

“Obviously, the SEC is the crown jewel of track & field conferences,” O’Neal said. “If you don’t step up, you’ll get run out of the building. We need more of our guys and girls to believe that they can compete in this league. We will learn from this experience.”

Next up is the NCAA East Preliminary Round May 24-25 in Greensboro, N.C. The NCAA will accept the top 48 athletes in each individual event (except the women’s heptathlon, men’s decathlon and 10,000 meter run) and the top 24 relays from the East region. Those athletes will compete for the right to participate in the NCAA Outdoor Championships (June 5-8 in Eugene, Ore.).

FINAL TEAM STANDINGS 

MEN
1. Arkansas – 152.5
2. Florida – 123
3. Texas A&M – 118
4. LSU – 72.5
5. Georgia – 56
6. Alabama – 52
7. Kentucky – 46
8. Ole Miss – 39
9. Auburn – 37
9. Missouri – 37
11. Mississippi State – 33
11. Tennessee – 33
13. South Carolina – 16

WOMEN
1. Texas A&M – 117
2. LSU – 112
3. Arkansas – 109
4. Florida – 106
5. Georgia – 87
6. Missouri – 49
7. Kentucky – 46
8. South Carolina – 41
9. Tennessee – 38.5
10. Mississippi State – 35
11. Auburn – 32.5
12. Alabama – 20
13. Vanderbilt – 16
14. Ole Miss – 9

SUNDAY AGATE

MEN

100 Meter Final
2. Isiah Young – 10.14 (8 points)

200 Meter Final
1. Isiah Young – 20.20 (10 points)

5,000 Meters
21. Seumas O’Reilly – 14:56.06

110-Meter Hurdle Final
4. Robert Semien – 14.21 (5 points)

4×100 Meter Relay
7. Ole Miss (Griffin, Branch, Serrette, Young) – 39.85 (2 points)

4×400 Meter Relay
10. Ole Miss (Oliver, Griffin, Serrette, Branch) – 3:13.62

High Jump
10. Malcolm Davis – 6-8.75

Pole Vault
2. Sam Kendricks – 18-1 (8 points)

Triple Jump
4. Morris Kersh – 51-9 (5 points)

Discus
17. Onyi Afoaku – 155-4
18. Hunter Harrison – 154-4

WOMEN

5,000 Meters
11. Haley Cutright – 16:43.54
24. Kayleigh Skinner – 17:12.44
34. Kelsey Breathitt – 17:28.15
39. McKenna Coughlin – 17:36.79

4X100 Meter Relay
5. Ole Miss (Russell, Lundy, J. Williams, Cooper) – 45.48 (4 points)

4×400 Meter Relay
12. Ole Miss (Alexander, Cooper, J. Williams, Hellberg-Jonsen) – 3:49.20

Triple Jump
10. Marci Morman – 40-11.75
18. Shari Russell – 36-10.5
20. Deonna Walton – 36-0.75

THURSDAY-SATURDAY AGATE

MEN

100 Meter Prelims
3. Isiah Young – 10.05Q (SR)

200 Meter Prelims
2. Isiah Young – 20.71Q
17. Anthony Branch – 21.35

800 Meter Prelims
32. Loren Newsom – 2:00.07

1,500 Meter Prelims
16. Riley Young – 3:57.92

10,000 Meters
16. Ian Carter – 31:44.69

110-Meter Hurdle Prelims
7. Robert Semien – 14.14Q

400 Meter Hurdle Prelims
12. Dante Oliver – 53.47

Long Jump
10. Malcolm Davis – 24-3.75

Shot Put
12. Onyi Afoaku – 52-7.25

Javelin
11. Benjamin Lapane – 195-5

Decathlon
8. Peyton Moss – 6,543 (1 point)

WOMEN

100 Meter Prelims
13. Asia Cooper – 11.71

200 Meter Prelims
22. Jasmine Williams – 24.54

1,500 Meter Prelims
26. Amy McCrory – 4:41.39

10,000 Meters
13. Kayleigh Skinner – 35:06.76
20. Katie Breathitt – 36:17.91

100-Meter Hurdle Prelims
10. Taryn Hartfield – 13.79
13. Racquel Moses – 14.36
15. Mary Ashton Nall – 14.49

400 Meter Hurdle Prelims
13. Sofia Hellberg-Jonsen – 1:01.14
22. Kiannah Alexander – 1:02.89
24. Racquel Moses – 1:05.04

3,000-Meter Steeplechase
9. Haley Cutright – 10:50.58
11. Anne Threlkeld – 10:56.24
12. Kelsey Breathitt – 11:00.30
14. McKenna Coughlin – 11:11.29

Long Jump
10. Allegra Wells – 19-10.75
11. Marci Morman – 19-8.25
22. Deonna Walton – 17-11.5

Hammer Throw
18. Jazmin Miller – 159-4

Heptathlon
4. Mary Ashton Nall – 5,397 (5 points)
Fabia McDonald – DNF