Track & Field’s Jalani Davis Wins SEC Weight Throw Title

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Ole Miss track & field senior Jalani Davis dismantled the meet record in the women’s weight throw en route to a gold medal, Tarik Robinson-O’Hagan became the best collegiate freshman in the history of the men’s weight throw, and several Rebels advanced to finals following a productive first day of the 2023 SEC Indoor Championships on Friday.
 
Senior Jalani Davis was already among the best collegiate weight throwers of all-time entering competition, but her heroics on Friday put her into an elite company among some of the best in the history of the world. Davis won the SEC title at a PR of 24.63m/80-09.75, shattering Stamatia Scarvelis’ 2019 meet record of 24.06m/78-11.25 by nearly two feet.
 
Davis took the lead in the second round at 23.18m/76-00.75 and never looked back. In the fourth round, Davis tossed a one-foot PR of 24.39m/80-00.25 to become just the sixth collegiate member of the 80-foot club, but in the sixth round she dug deep for her winning 24.63m/80-09.75 – the ninth-best throw in collegiate history that moves her from No. 8 to No. 5 on the collegiate all-time list.
 
This year, that throw improves upon her spot atop the NCAA leaderboards, as well as ranking No. 5 in the United States and No. 6 in the world. Historically, in addition to ranking third in Ole Miss history and No. 5 in collegiate history, Davis now ranks No. 11 among Americans all-time, as well as No. 12 in world history.
 
Her field series in general was one for the ages as well. Davis is now just the third collegiate thrower to ever throw beyond 80 feet multiple times within the same series, joining collegiate record holder Brittany Riley of SIU in 2007, and Rebel teammate Shey Taiwo from the 2022 Music City Challenge last indoor season.
 
Jasmine Mitchell – the reigning NCAA runner-up in the weight throw – earned her fourth SEC weight medal in as many tries, taking silver to Davis’ gold at 23.15m/75-11.50. Senior Tedreauna Britt also launched a PR, scoring for the Rebels in eighth place at 20.43m/67-00.50 to move into No. 7 in Ole Miss history.
 
In the men’s weight throw, freshman phenom Tarik Robinson-O’Hagan somehow found a way to stun the throwing world again, definitively becoming the greatest freshman weight thrower in NCAA history.
 
Robinson-O’Hagan went toe-to-toe with the reigning…