Ricky Robertson competes during the 2014 Ole Miss Open on Saturday, March 22, 2014 in Oxford, Miss. (Photo/Ignacio Murillo)
With less than a month left until the SEC Championships, Ole Miss will send its No. 11 nationally ranked men to the A-State Red Wolves Open in Jonesboro, Ark., and the women to the Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa, this week.
Only two weekends of competition remain before the SEC Championships are scheduled to begin. They will be held in Lexington, Ky. May 15-18, followed by the NCAA East Preliminary in Jacksonville, Fla., May 29-31 and the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Ore., June 11-14.
The A-State Red Wolves Open will take place Friday and Saturday on the campus of Arkansas State University. The meet begins Friday at 3 p.m. with the men’s hammer throw. Events run throughout Friday evening and start back again at 11 a.m. on Saturday. Among the men’s teams in attendance will be Ohio State, Southern Illinois and Memphis.
The college portion of the prestigious Drake Relays presented by Hy-Vee runs Wednesday-Saturday. Some of the world’s top professional athletes will also compete in featured events at the historic Drake Stadium throughout the week. Senior Mary Ashton Nall will get things started for the Rebels in the heptathlon Wednesday and Thursday.
The 11th-ranked Ole Miss men feature some of the nation’s top athletes and are coming off a strong performance at the Mt. SAC Relays last week. Freshman Sean Tobin provided one of the biggest highlights for the Rebels when he broke a 29-year-old school record in the 1,500 meters with his time of 3:42.07 that ranks seventh in the nation this year. He was tabbed SEC Freshman of the Week for his effort.
Ole Miss men that rank among the nation’s top 50 are freshman Jalen Miller in the 100 meters (18th, 10.24) and 200 (41st, 20.85), senior Mike Granger in the 100 (36th, 10.34), Tobin in the 800 (12th, 1:47.99) and 1500 (7th, 3:42.07), junior Robert Semien in the 110 hurdles (24th, 13.91), the 4×100 relay (25th, 40.06), the 4×400 relay (31st, 3:09.20), senior Ricky Robertson in the high jump (1st, 7-6), long jump (18th, 25-0.75) and triple jump (20th, 51-2.25), junior Sam Kendricks in the pole vault (1st, 18-8.25), junior Phillip Young in the long jump (32nd, 24-9.75) and triple jump (10th, 51-9.75), junior Malcolm Davis in the long jump (38th, 24-7.75) and sophomore Nathan Loe in the hammer throw (24th, 210-3).
Kendricks remains atop the world rankings in the pole vault since his season-best jump of 18-8.25 at the Texas Relays. Robertson ranks second in the world in the high jump (7-6 at the Texas Relays) and is the only NCAA athlete that ranks in the top 20 in the high jump, long jump and triple jump.
Within the SEC, Ole Miss has the league leader in the 1500 (Tobin), high jump (Robertson) and pole vault (Kendricks).
On the women’s side, junior Kierra White currently ranks 18th nationally in the long jump (20-6.25), and Nall is 32nd in the heptathlon (5,278). They both rank top seven among SEC athletes in those events.
