OXFORD, Miss. --- Mississippi College's Track and Field is set to compete at the Ole Miss Classic on Friday and Saturday, March 24-25. Many team members will be making their first appearance since their impressive 10th-place men's team finish at the 2023 NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships.

Notable field event Choctaw entries include 2023 South Region Field Athlete of the Year Al Ferrill, who will be taking part in the top flight of the Men's Hammer Throw, Shot Put, and Discus. School record holders Essence Tornabene and Nicole Morris will also be in action, having recently set new records in the Women's Shot Put and Discus, respectively, at the Mississippi College Spring Cleaning Classic. Tytavia Hardy, the Overall Performer of the Meet at the 2023 GSC Indoor Track and Field Championships, is expected to be a strong contender in the Women's Triple Jump.

In the running events, recent 2023 NCAA Division II All-Americans Kelechi Christian, Niklas Klei, Hunter Kurz, Cole Benoit, Christian Balcer, Connor Stewart, Fabio Palmieri, and Gabe Hodson will participate in various events and kickstart their 2023 Outdoor Track and Field season.

Palmieri is the top seed in the Men's 200-meter dash, with fellow Choctaws Will Grames, a two-time NCAA Division II All-American, and Kevin Turner, the 60-meter dash school record holder, also in the lineup. Christian will compete in the fast section of the Women's 200-meter dash and 400-meter dash, alongside freshman standout Alana Green in the 200m. Green is coming off an indoor season in which she broke freshman records in both the Women's 60-meter dash and 200-meter dash. The Men's 800-meter run will feature a stacked Choctaw lineup of Kurz, Balcer, Hodson, Benoit, and Stewart, while Klei, the 2023 NCAA Division II Indoor 400m 3rd-place finisher, will compete in the Men's 100-meter dash. Additionally, Klei, Turner, Palmieri, and and 60-meter and 110-meter hurdles school record holder Shemar Patten will join forces in the 4 x 100-meter relay, taking on the University of Cincinnati and Harding University. Additionally, Palmieri, Hodson, Grames, and Stewart will aim for victory in the Men's 4 x 400-meter relay, an event where the Choctaws placed fourth at the 2023 NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships.

Other notable entries include Patten in the 110-meter hurdles, two-time Gulf South Conference Champion Gabe Poulin and recent DMR Gulf South Conference Champion member Brock Kelly in the Men's 800-meter run, Indoor and Outdoor 800-meter school record holder Jazmin Hernandez, as well as 3,000-meter school record holder Emily Berry in the Women's 1500-meter and 800-meter run, along with many other talented athletes ready to rep the navy blue and gold. 

The Ole Miss Classic promises to be an exciting event for Mississippi College Track and Field, and will likely continue their momentum from the 34 school records broken during the 2022-23 indoor season with two already set in the current outdoor season.