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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Track & Field Wins Nine Medals at SEC Outdoor Championships
5/19/2025 | Track and Field
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Ole Miss track & field took home nine medals with 19 individual scorers to wrap up a successful stay at the 2025 SEC Outdoor Championships last week.
The Ole Miss men's team secured fifth place with 74 points — their highest outdoor finish since 2016 and their most points scored outdoors since 2014. This performance marks only the fourth time since 1980 that the Rebels have finished in the top five at the SEC Outdoor Championships, and it's the second such accomplishment under 10th-year head coach Connie Price-Smith.
Read below for daily recaps, highlights and interviews from the three days of action.
DAY ONE | May 15
Recap: Track & Field Earns Three Medals to Kick Off Day One of SEC Outdoor Championships
Quick Stories: Men’s Hammer
Highlights: Men’s Hammer | Men’s 10K
Interviews: Tarik Robinson-O’Hagan (Hammer) | Jake Dalton (Hammer) | Toby Gillen (10K)
On Day One, the first points of the day came from the sophomore duo of Skylar Soli and Akaoma Odeluga in the women’s hammer where they secured six total points. Soli’s six-foot PR of 64.39m/211-3 landed her in fourth and improved upon her spot in sixth in Ole Miss history, while Odeluga’s heave of 60.00m/196-10 claimed eighth.
Meanwhile the men’s hammer would accumulate a total of 23 points, giving the Rebel men early command of the team leaderboard. Junior Tarik Robinson-O’Hagan won his third consecutive SEC hammer title on a monstrous first-round heave of 75.72m/248-5 that registered as a personal-best and school record. Senior Jake Dalton also returned to the podium as runner-up for the second consecutive year on a throw of 68.51m/224-9. Additional points for the Rebel men came from junior Bryson Smith in fifth (67.64m/221-11) and Mason Hickel in eighth (65.22m/214-0).
The Rebel men also found points on the track with a gutsy 10K race from senior Toby Gillen that placed him second, tacking on eight more points for the Ole Miss men with a career-best of 30:12.62. Gillen’s performance brought the Rebel men to 31 total points to close Day One of competition.
DAY TWO | May 16
Recap: Track & Field Earns Three More Medals, Including Repeat Win by Robinson-O’Hagan
Quick Stories: Women’s Shot Put | Men’s Shot Put | Men’s Pole Vault
Highlights: Men’s Shot Put
Interviews: John Kendricks (Pole Vault)
On Day Two, the women scored the first points yet again with 10 total points in the shot put. Odeluga won her second consecutive SEC medal outdoors, taking silver on a first round heave of 18.63m/61-01.50 for eight points, while fellow sophomore Mensi Stiff added two points to the tally with a seventh place finish on a season-best 17.11m/56-01.75.
On the men’s side, the pole vault squad found themselves in one of the most competitive pole vault competitions this season. Sophomore and Oxford native John Kendricks led the way for the Rebel men, taking bronze on an overall-career best clearance of 5.50m/18-00.50. Kendricks now joins his brother, three-time Olympian Sam Kendricks, as the only 18-foot vaulters in school history. Senior Drew O’Connor also contributed to the point total with an eighth-place finish on a career-best of 5.40m/17-08.50.
Meanwhile in the men’s shot put, Robinson O’Hagan completed his second consecutive sweep in the shot put and hammer and secured his ninth career conference victory on a fourth-round toss of 20.68m/67-10.25. Robinson-O’Hagan’s ten points in the shot put boosted the Rebel men’s point total to 48 and allowed Ole Miss to hold on to the number one spot for yet another day.
DAY THREE | May 17
Recap: Track & Field Wins Thrilling SEC 5K, Finish Fifth in Men’s Team Standings
Quick Stories: Women’s Pole Vault | Men’s High Jump | Men’s 5K
Highlights: Women’s Pole Vault | Men’s High Jump | Men’s 5K
Interviews: Toby Gillen (5K) | Arvesta Troupe (High Jump) | Lily Beattie (Pole Vault)
In the final day of competition, the men’s 4x100 relay squad comprised of senior Iangelo Atkinstall-Daley, freshman Jordan Urrutia, freshman Wesley Todd and junior Joseph Michel contributed the first point of the day with an eighth-place finish at 39.38, the second fastest 4x1 relay in program history.
Additional points on the track came from junior Evan Thornton-Sherman in the men’s 1500-meter. Thornton-Sherman’s fifth-place finish at 3:53.00 contributed four more points to the scoreboard for the men.
On the women’s side, freshman Lily Beattie put together the best performance of her young career, finishing runner-up with a huge PR of 4.26m/13-11.75 to take silver – the best finish ever by a Rebel woman in an SEC pole vault competition, indoors or outdoors.
In the men’s high jump, junior and Mississippi native Arvesta Troupe collected his third career SEC medal with an overall career-best leap of 2.26m/7-5 that earned him silver, adding eight more points to the team scores for the men and making him one of two Rebels to have ever cleared 7-foot-5.
The final points of the evening would come from the men’s 5K race, where Gillen claimed gold in impressive fashion at 13:49.75. Senior Kidus Misgina would follow in sixth at 13:53.27 adding three points to the Rebel total, bringing the total to 74 points.