JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Ole Miss women’s track & field secured two national tickets in the throws and advanced four through to quarterfinals on the track at the second day of the 2023 NCAA East Region Preliminary Round on Thursday.
One day after men’s freshman Tarik Robinson-O’Hagan snagged two NCAA berths on his own, the Rebel women responded with two tickets to Austin on Thursday courtesy of All-American seniors Jasmine Mitchell (shot put) and Shey Taiwo (hammer).
Taiwo opened the day with her national qualifying performance in the hammer, finishing fifth at 65.33m/214-04 to notch her second career NCAA Outdoor berth. Taiwo was the NCAA runner-up in the hammer her last time at the outdoor national meet in 2021, and she now gives Ole Miss a women’s hammer qualifier for the fifth time in its last six opportunities since 2017.
Mitchell, meanwhile, pulled out some last-minute heroics to book her passage to Texas in the shot put later in the evening. Falling well outside the top-12 qualifying spots heading into her third and final attempt, Mitchell uncorked an outdoor PR of 16.97m/55-08.25 to move up to seventh and record her second straight NCAA Outdoor ticket in the shot put.
This is Mitchell’s eighth-career national qualifying berth across the indoor and outdoor seasons, and she’ll be looking to add on to her five career First or Second-Team All-America honors and 19 career NCAA points. The regional meet has been good to Mitchell in the shot put the last two years, as her previous outdoor PR of 16.95m/55-07.50 came from the East Regional last season, where she qualified for nationals out of the first flight.
On the track, Ole Miss advanced four women through to quarterfinals – highlighted by yet another show-stopping set of performances from senior sprinter McKenzie Long.
Long took care of business earlier in the night with a 100-meter dash auto-qualifying performance of 11.07 (+1.2), but it was her blistering 200-meter dash to end the night that turned heads and stunned even Long when she crossed the line.
Long clocked the top qualifying time by a wide three-tenths margin at a windy 22.13 (+2.9), which not only advances her to Saturday’s quarterfinal, but it breaks her own Ole Miss record and puts her No. 5 on the world all-conditions list for 2023. It also makes her the No. 10…
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