Mitchell, Davis Notch Three More National Tickets at Day Two of NCAA East Regional

May 27, 2022

Jas_Website — Photo courtesy of Ole Miss Sports

Ole Miss track & field All-American throwers Jasmine Mitchell (hammer, shot put) and Jalani Davis (hammer) booked their return flights to Hayward Field after notching three combined national tickets between them to lead the Rebels at Day Two of the NCAA East Regional on Thursday.

Storms lashed Indiana’s Haugh Track & Field Complex for the second straight day, forcing a delay to the women’s hammer in the morning and also forcing the remainder of the schedule to earlier in the day to avoid another cell predicted in the evening. Despite heavy rain in the early morning hours and inconsistent weather patterns throughout the day, Ole Miss came away with those three additional tickets to the national meet and two quarterfinalists on the track.

In a soggy morning competition in the women’s hammer, Jalani Davis led the way for Ole Miss with an eighth-place finish at a new PR of 65.97m/216-05 – which improves upon her spot at No. 4 in the Ole Miss record books. This is Davis’ second consecutive trip to Eugene in the hammer, where she finished 16th overall for Second-Team All-American honors in 2021.

Mitchell, meanwhile, dropped a season-best 65.49m/214-10 to finish 11th overall and secure her first career NCAA Outdoor national berth. This is the fourth time in the last five opportunities that Ole Miss has notched at least one qualifier in the women’s hammer, and it also stands as the second year in a row with multiple qualifiers in the event.

Later in the evening, Mitchell unleashed a stunner from the first flight of the shot put, a two-foot PR on her second attempt that sailed 16.95m/55-07.50 that gave her a surmisable lead after the first two flights were completed. That mark stood up to scrutiny after the two higher-seeded flights hit the ring, as she finished eighth overall to punch her second national ticket of the day.

That toss by Mitchell moves her up to No. 4 in Ole Miss history, and her national berth in the shot put gives Ole Miss its fifth in the women’s edition in the last six opportunities dating back to 2016.

Davis nearly joined her in another double effort for the Rebels, but she finished just shy in 15th place overall at 16.31m/53-06.25.

On the track, SEC 1500-meter champion and reigning NCAA Indoor mile runner-up Sintayehu Vissa took care of business in the first round of the women’s 1500. As did fellow junior Loral Winn, with the pair both advancing to Saturday’s quarterfinal with a trip to Eugene on the line.

Vissa clocked the second-fastest prelim time of the day at 4:13.71, winning Heat One for an AQ spot to the quarterfinal. Winn, meanwhile, snared one of the time qualifier spots at a new PR of 4:15.25, which was good for 10th overall on Thursday and stands No. 2 all-time at Ole Miss behind Vissa’s SEC meet record 4:08.72 run in Oxford two weeks ago.

This is the second straight East Region quarterfinal for both Rebels, with Winn running in the 1500-meter and Vissa in the 800-meter quarterfinal last year. Both have extensive experience on the national stage both indoors and during the cross country season, but a qualifying performance on Saturday would mark their first outdoor national tickets and the first ever NCAA Outdoor berths in the women’s 1500 in Ole Miss history.

Ole Miss nearly had another quarterfinalist, as senior Kelly Rowe was the first one out of the women’s 100-meter dash. In the first round run on Thursday, Rowe ended up 25th overall after running a new career-best 11.49 (+0.6) – which fell two hundredths short of the final time qualifier Haley Bishop of Vanderbilt, who ran 11.47 (+2.5).

The Rebel men return to action for quarterfinals on Friday, with tickets to Eugene on the line for Shane Bracken and Mario Garcia Romo in the 1500-meter (4:15 p.m. CT), Baylor Franklin in the 800-meter (6:05 p.m. CT), Elijah Dryer in the 200-meter dash (6:50 p.m. CT), and Cole Bullock in the men’s 5K semifinal at 7:10 p.m. CT.

Mitchell, Davis Notch Three More National Tickets at Day Two of NCAA East Regional

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