PITTSBURG, Ka. --- The Mississippi College Track and Field team had a successful outing at the 2024 NCAA DII Indoor Track and Field Championships and are bringing home some hardware in the form of two podium finishes in the Women's Distance Medley Relay and Men's 4x400m Relay.
On day one of the competition, the Women's DMR, comprised of Jazmin Russell, Hilary Udechukwu, Lauren Wallace, and Taylor Benoit, joined forces to secure the first-ever NCAA DII 1st-Team All-American finish in a women's relay in program history. The quartet clocked a time of 11:29.55, good for eighth place overall and a new school record. They also crushed their seed ranking of 11th heading into the event.
Additionally, Jan Lukas Becker finished 13th overall in the Men's 5,000m, officially marking five consecutive appearances on the national stage since his time at Mississippi College.
The momentum continued on day two in the Men's 4x400m relay, as Fabio Palmieri, Gabe Hodson, Grayson Foster, and Connor Stewart stopped the clock in a 3:11.11 to grab fifth in the country after going into the event seeded 9th overall. This is the 5th NCAA DII 1st-Team All-American finish in the last three years for the Men's 4x400m relay and the second consecutive indoors. 2
This concludes another historic indoor track and field season for Mississippi College Track and Field, which earned 37 Top-10 program marks, six GSC titles, four school records, and now two NCAA DII 1st-Team All-American finishes. The Choctaws will not move on to the outdoor track and field season, with the next outing being the local Belhaven Invitational on Saturday, March 23. The action is slated to begin at 9:00 AM C.T.