The University of Mississippi Athletics
Friday, April 17
Charlottesville, Va.
All Day
Ole Miss
at
Virginia Challenge
Track & Field Treks to UVA for Virginia Challenge
4/16/2026 | Track and Field
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Ole Miss track & field returns to the road with a key regular season weekend of competition at the Virginia Challenge, hosted by UVA from April 17-18.
MEET NOTES
• The Rebel men held in the top-10 for a third straight week to open the outdoor season, remaining at No. 6 in the Week Three USTFCCCA Track & Field Rating Index. Of the 43 total top-10 rankings in Ole Miss track & field history, 11th-year head coach Connie Price-Smith owns 40 of them (13 men, 27 women). In the outdoor season, she owns 17 of 19 total top-10 slots (4 men, 13 women), while indoors she owns 23 (9 men, 14 women). In total, Price-Smith has tallied 76 of the 140 outdoor rankings appearances in combined program history (29 men, 47 women).
• Much of that No. 6 national ranking is thanks to 14-time All-American and four-time NCAA shot put champion Tarik Robinson-O'Hagan, who has been the national leader in both the shot and hammer each week of the outdoor season. He is undefeated this outdoor season, including wins in both in his final home meet last week at the Joe Walker Invite. This week at Virginia will give Robinson-O'Hagan a first test of the short recovery time between both events at the national meet, with the shot put on Friday night set to start not long after the men's hammer invitational.
• This outdoor season, Robinson-O'Hagan leads all collegians and ranks seventh worldwide and second among Americans at his winning toss of 20.81m/68-03.25 from LSU's Battle on the Bayou two weeks ago.
• Robinson-O'Hagan's superb hammer season open at the Ole Miss Classic still leads the nation by nearly two meters at his career-best 77.62m/254-8. That throw earned him both the SEC weekly honor and the USTFCCCA National Athlete of the Week award, as that throw shattered both the facility and all-time Ole Miss records, it stands as the best all-time that early into the collegiate season (March 20), and it made Robinson-O'Hagan the second-best American-born collegian all-time.
• Robinson-O'Hagan's hammer distance, coupled with his outdoor shot PR of 20.88m, improved his career combined collegiate record to 98.50m – making him the first collegian to surpass 98 meters. Combined with his shot put win of 20.42m, his weekend combo on March 20-21 alone was a whopping 98.04m. Last June at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, Robinson-O'Hagan broke the collegiate record of 97.68m set by Georgia's Denzel Comenentia in 2019 with his then-record of 97.89m. He also ended his indoor career second in collegiate history in combined shot/weight PRs at 45.53m.
• Robinson-O'Hagan is coming off an indoor season that saw him win his fourth career NCAA shot put title, his third in a row indoors. Across his superb career, Robinson-O'Hagan is a four-time national champion, 14-time All-American, 11-time SEC Champion, five-time SEC Field Athlete of the Year, four-time SEC points trophy winner and 12-time SEC medalist with 75 career NCAA points and 124 SEC points scored.
• Ole Miss also owns two additional top-30 hammer marks from seniors Bryson Smith (17th, 67.16m/220-4) and Mason Hickel (29th, 65.53m/215-0). The Rebels have averaged 23.5 SEC points in the hammer over the last two seasons, and sent four to the national meet in the event in 2025: Robinson-O'Hagan, Smith, Hickel and the graduated Jake Dalton.
• Junior transfers Sterling Scott and Kyle Johnson both rank within the national top-15 in the triple jump, with Scott's outdoor Rebel debut 15.90m/52-2 (+2.5) leading the East Region and ranking sixth nationally and Johnson's debut 15.75m/51-08.25 (+1.6) ranking third and 11th, respectively. Both of those marks also rank in the top-15 all-time at Ole Miss. Scott took the long jump title last week at the Joe Walker Invite at 7.40m/24-03.50 (+1.5), his first long jump competition since his freshman season indoors.
• Ole Miss' relay units are already in full force, with both the Rebel men's 4x100 and 4x400-meter relays contributing greatly toward the No. 6 national rank.
• The foursome of Dekell Minor, Jordan Urrutia, Wesley Todd and Tarique Wright opened the season in blazing fashion, winning the 4x100-meter relay at the Ole Miss Classic at 38.98 -- breaking the school record and becoming the first sub-39 relay in Ole Miss history. That time currently ranks fifth in the SEC and ninth nationally.
• In the 4x4, the quartet of Todd, Carson Turner, Cade Flatt and Urrutia passed the stick in 3:06.13 for another win, the seventh-best in Ole Miss history and the best by a Rebel 4x4 since 1999. That time ranks 23rd nationally, and was helped greatly by a third-leg 46.1 by Flatt and a scorching 45.8 anchor by Urrutia.
• The Ole Miss men's sprints crew currently owns four more individual times within the NCAA top-50: Minor in the 100-meter (11th, 10.14/+2.2), Urrutia in both the 100 (33rd, 10.24/-1.6) and 400 (47th, 46.22), and Joshua Knox in the 400-meter (37th, 46.14).
• Ole Miss owns three top-30 times in the 800-meter, led by a career-best outing by sophomore Max Armstrong at LSU two weeks ago at 1:46.98 (NCAA No. 10). Senior Chase Rose (15th, 1:47.32) and Carson Turner (28th, 1:47.71) both ran their times at home at the Joe Walker Invite.
• Ole Miss is also still benefitting greatly from several impressive times run at the Stanford Invite two weeks ago, which includes Kidus Misgina's 10K record and SEC-leading 28:17.69 (NCAA No. 20). Other times from Stanford include Sergio Del Barrio's steeplechase debut at 8:38.05 (NCAA No. 12), Evan Thornton-Sherman's 5K best of 13:32.99 (NCAA No. 16) and Aiden Britt's near-PR in the 10K at 28:28.35 (NCAA No. 28).
• Other Rebel men within the national top-50 are: Arvesta Troupe in the high jump (20th, 2.15m/7-00.50), Ashton Hearn in the discus (25th, 58.12m/190-8), Logan Kelley in the pole vault (39th, 5.28m/17-03.75) and Gabe Scales in the 1500-meter (50th, 3:41.91).
• On the women's side, All-American junior Akaoma Odeluga leads the way with her two highly ranked performances in the shot put and hammer. Odeluga ranks seventh nationally at her outdoor shot put open of 17.42m/57-2, as well as 17th in the hammer at her latest season-best 64.56m/211-10 from the Joe Walker Invite. Last season, Odeluga became one of two women in collegiate history at 62 feet in the shot put and 210 in the hammer.
• The Rebel women's 4x100-meter relay ran its fastest time in nearly two years last week at the Joe Walker Invite, with the quartet of Zion Lockette, Patchnalie Compere, Royanah Farmer and Alicia Burnett passing the stick in 43.65 -- the No. 7 time in Ole Miss history that ranks 18th nationally.
• This came less than a day after Compere broke the wind-legal Ole Miss freshman record in the 200-meter dash. Compere blazed to a wind-legal winning time of 22.96 (+0.5), ranking third all-time on Ole Miss' list behind NCAA Champion McKenzie Long's 21.83 (+1.0) from 2024 and Jayda Eckford's 22.72 (+2.2) from 2019, but ahead of Eckford's wind-legal 22.98 (+0.6) as a freshman that same year.
• Compere's time also ranks as a Haitian national record, making her the first in the country's history to break the 23-second barrier. Compere hails from Oakland Park, Florida but her parents' Haitian lineage allows her times to count on Haiti's all-time and season lists. Compere also owns an NCAA top-50 time in the 100-meter (38th, 11.35/+3.6).
• Other Rebel women in the top-50 are: Lily Beattie in the pole vault (18th, 4.30m/14-01.25), Lizzie Hatton in the long jump (19th, 6.33m/20-09.25; +0.0), Beth Arentz in the 5K (28th, 15:51.89), Nyah Edwards in the hammer (29th, 62.16m/203-11), Sophie Baumann in the 5K (37th, 15:54.69), Loral Winn in the 5K (40th, 15:55.23), Skylar Soli in the hammer (40th, 60.77m/199-4) and Mary Cate Doughty in the pole vault (42nd, 4.12m/13-06.25).
• Ole Miss is under the watch of 11th-year head coach Connie Price-Smith, who has led the Rebels to 21 NCAA top-25 team finishes while coaching 23 NCAA individual champions (17 titles), 15 NCAA runners-up, 197 First or Second-Team All-Americans, 456 NCAA points, 84 SEC individual champions and a bevy of the best team finishes in program history on both a conference and national level.
• Price-Smith owns eight of the 11 all-time NCAA top-10 finishes in Ole Miss history: 2025 men's outdoor (T-8th), 2025 men's indoor (T-10th), 2024 women's outdoor (5th), 2024 women's indoor (5th), 2023 women's indoor (10th), 2022 women's indoor (T-6th), 2022 men's indoor (T-10th), 2021 men's indoor (10th).
MEET NOTES
• The Rebel men held in the top-10 for a third straight week to open the outdoor season, remaining at No. 6 in the Week Three USTFCCCA Track & Field Rating Index. Of the 43 total top-10 rankings in Ole Miss track & field history, 11th-year head coach Connie Price-Smith owns 40 of them (13 men, 27 women). In the outdoor season, she owns 17 of 19 total top-10 slots (4 men, 13 women), while indoors she owns 23 (9 men, 14 women). In total, Price-Smith has tallied 76 of the 140 outdoor rankings appearances in combined program history (29 men, 47 women).
• Much of that No. 6 national ranking is thanks to 14-time All-American and four-time NCAA shot put champion Tarik Robinson-O'Hagan, who has been the national leader in both the shot and hammer each week of the outdoor season. He is undefeated this outdoor season, including wins in both in his final home meet last week at the Joe Walker Invite. This week at Virginia will give Robinson-O'Hagan a first test of the short recovery time between both events at the national meet, with the shot put on Friday night set to start not long after the men's hammer invitational.
• This outdoor season, Robinson-O'Hagan leads all collegians and ranks seventh worldwide and second among Americans at his winning toss of 20.81m/68-03.25 from LSU's Battle on the Bayou two weeks ago.
• Robinson-O'Hagan's superb hammer season open at the Ole Miss Classic still leads the nation by nearly two meters at his career-best 77.62m/254-8. That throw earned him both the SEC weekly honor and the USTFCCCA National Athlete of the Week award, as that throw shattered both the facility and all-time Ole Miss records, it stands as the best all-time that early into the collegiate season (March 20), and it made Robinson-O'Hagan the second-best American-born collegian all-time.
• Robinson-O'Hagan's hammer distance, coupled with his outdoor shot PR of 20.88m, improved his career combined collegiate record to 98.50m – making him the first collegian to surpass 98 meters. Combined with his shot put win of 20.42m, his weekend combo on March 20-21 alone was a whopping 98.04m. Last June at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, Robinson-O'Hagan broke the collegiate record of 97.68m set by Georgia's Denzel Comenentia in 2019 with his then-record of 97.89m. He also ended his indoor career second in collegiate history in combined shot/weight PRs at 45.53m.
• Robinson-O'Hagan is coming off an indoor season that saw him win his fourth career NCAA shot put title, his third in a row indoors. Across his superb career, Robinson-O'Hagan is a four-time national champion, 14-time All-American, 11-time SEC Champion, five-time SEC Field Athlete of the Year, four-time SEC points trophy winner and 12-time SEC medalist with 75 career NCAA points and 124 SEC points scored.
• Ole Miss also owns two additional top-30 hammer marks from seniors Bryson Smith (17th, 67.16m/220-4) and Mason Hickel (29th, 65.53m/215-0). The Rebels have averaged 23.5 SEC points in the hammer over the last two seasons, and sent four to the national meet in the event in 2025: Robinson-O'Hagan, Smith, Hickel and the graduated Jake Dalton.
• Junior transfers Sterling Scott and Kyle Johnson both rank within the national top-15 in the triple jump, with Scott's outdoor Rebel debut 15.90m/52-2 (+2.5) leading the East Region and ranking sixth nationally and Johnson's debut 15.75m/51-08.25 (+1.6) ranking third and 11th, respectively. Both of those marks also rank in the top-15 all-time at Ole Miss. Scott took the long jump title last week at the Joe Walker Invite at 7.40m/24-03.50 (+1.5), his first long jump competition since his freshman season indoors.
• Ole Miss' relay units are already in full force, with both the Rebel men's 4x100 and 4x400-meter relays contributing greatly toward the No. 6 national rank.
• The foursome of Dekell Minor, Jordan Urrutia, Wesley Todd and Tarique Wright opened the season in blazing fashion, winning the 4x100-meter relay at the Ole Miss Classic at 38.98 -- breaking the school record and becoming the first sub-39 relay in Ole Miss history. That time currently ranks fifth in the SEC and ninth nationally.
• In the 4x4, the quartet of Todd, Carson Turner, Cade Flatt and Urrutia passed the stick in 3:06.13 for another win, the seventh-best in Ole Miss history and the best by a Rebel 4x4 since 1999. That time ranks 23rd nationally, and was helped greatly by a third-leg 46.1 by Flatt and a scorching 45.8 anchor by Urrutia.
• The Ole Miss men's sprints crew currently owns four more individual times within the NCAA top-50: Minor in the 100-meter (11th, 10.14/+2.2), Urrutia in both the 100 (33rd, 10.24/-1.6) and 400 (47th, 46.22), and Joshua Knox in the 400-meter (37th, 46.14).
• Ole Miss owns three top-30 times in the 800-meter, led by a career-best outing by sophomore Max Armstrong at LSU two weeks ago at 1:46.98 (NCAA No. 10). Senior Chase Rose (15th, 1:47.32) and Carson Turner (28th, 1:47.71) both ran their times at home at the Joe Walker Invite.
• Ole Miss is also still benefitting greatly from several impressive times run at the Stanford Invite two weeks ago, which includes Kidus Misgina's 10K record and SEC-leading 28:17.69 (NCAA No. 20). Other times from Stanford include Sergio Del Barrio's steeplechase debut at 8:38.05 (NCAA No. 12), Evan Thornton-Sherman's 5K best of 13:32.99 (NCAA No. 16) and Aiden Britt's near-PR in the 10K at 28:28.35 (NCAA No. 28).
• Other Rebel men within the national top-50 are: Arvesta Troupe in the high jump (20th, 2.15m/7-00.50), Ashton Hearn in the discus (25th, 58.12m/190-8), Logan Kelley in the pole vault (39th, 5.28m/17-03.75) and Gabe Scales in the 1500-meter (50th, 3:41.91).
• On the women's side, All-American junior Akaoma Odeluga leads the way with her two highly ranked performances in the shot put and hammer. Odeluga ranks seventh nationally at her outdoor shot put open of 17.42m/57-2, as well as 17th in the hammer at her latest season-best 64.56m/211-10 from the Joe Walker Invite. Last season, Odeluga became one of two women in collegiate history at 62 feet in the shot put and 210 in the hammer.
• The Rebel women's 4x100-meter relay ran its fastest time in nearly two years last week at the Joe Walker Invite, with the quartet of Zion Lockette, Patchnalie Compere, Royanah Farmer and Alicia Burnett passing the stick in 43.65 -- the No. 7 time in Ole Miss history that ranks 18th nationally.
• This came less than a day after Compere broke the wind-legal Ole Miss freshman record in the 200-meter dash. Compere blazed to a wind-legal winning time of 22.96 (+0.5), ranking third all-time on Ole Miss' list behind NCAA Champion McKenzie Long's 21.83 (+1.0) from 2024 and Jayda Eckford's 22.72 (+2.2) from 2019, but ahead of Eckford's wind-legal 22.98 (+0.6) as a freshman that same year.
• Compere's time also ranks as a Haitian national record, making her the first in the country's history to break the 23-second barrier. Compere hails from Oakland Park, Florida but her parents' Haitian lineage allows her times to count on Haiti's all-time and season lists. Compere also owns an NCAA top-50 time in the 100-meter (38th, 11.35/+3.6).
• Other Rebel women in the top-50 are: Lily Beattie in the pole vault (18th, 4.30m/14-01.25), Lizzie Hatton in the long jump (19th, 6.33m/20-09.25; +0.0), Beth Arentz in the 5K (28th, 15:51.89), Nyah Edwards in the hammer (29th, 62.16m/203-11), Sophie Baumann in the 5K (37th, 15:54.69), Loral Winn in the 5K (40th, 15:55.23), Skylar Soli in the hammer (40th, 60.77m/199-4) and Mary Cate Doughty in the pole vault (42nd, 4.12m/13-06.25).
• Ole Miss is under the watch of 11th-year head coach Connie Price-Smith, who has led the Rebels to 21 NCAA top-25 team finishes while coaching 23 NCAA individual champions (17 titles), 15 NCAA runners-up, 197 First or Second-Team All-Americans, 456 NCAA points, 84 SEC individual champions and a bevy of the best team finishes in program history on both a conference and national level.
• Price-Smith owns eight of the 11 all-time NCAA top-10 finishes in Ole Miss history: 2025 men's outdoor (T-8th), 2025 men's indoor (T-10th), 2024 women's outdoor (5th), 2024 women's indoor (5th), 2023 women's indoor (10th), 2022 women's indoor (T-6th), 2022 men's indoor (T-10th), 2021 men's indoor (10th).
| 2026 Virginia Challenge, Master Schedule (all times ET) | ||
| Day One | Friday, April 17 | ||
| Time | Event | Athlete(s) |
| 9:30 AM | Women's Hammer | Temidayo Owoyemi (Flight 2) Naomi Woolfolk (Flight 2) Nyah Edwards (Flight 3) |
| Men's Hammer (To Follow Women) | Mason Hickel (Flight 3) | |
| 1:30 PM | Women's Pole Vault | Aly Francolini |
| 3:00 PM | Women's 100-Meter Dash (Prelims) | Patchnalie Compere Royanah Farmer Myla Reed |
| Women's High Jump | Carmela Coulter | |
| 3:30 PM | Men's 100-Meter Dash (Prelims) | Joshua Knox Jordan Urrutia Tarique Wright |
| 4:00 PM | Women's Long Jump | Nyajah Gordon (Flight 1) Indya Dotson (Flight 3) Lizzie Hatton (Flight 4) |
| 4:55 PM | Women's 1500-Meter | Zoe Marsh (Heat 4) Brooke Preputnick (Heat 5) Madison Archdale (Heat 6) Addy Mitchell (Heat 6) Hannah Doyle (Heat 7) |
| 5:15 PM | Women's Hammer (Invite) | Akaoma Odeluga Skylar Soli |
| Men's Hammer (Invite; To Follow Women) | Tarik Robinson-O'Hagan Bryson Smith |
|
| 5:30 PM | Women's Pole Vault (Invite) | Lily Beattie Mary Cate Doughty Rachel Homoly Katie McFarland |
| 6:00 PM | Women's 100-Meter Dash (Final) | -- |
| 6:10 PM | Men's 100-Meter Dash (Final) | -- |
| 6:30 PM | Men's 800-Meter (Invite) | Cade Flatt (Heat 1) Chase Rose (Heat 2) |
| 6:45 PM | Women's 400-Meter Hurdles | Jordan Rochester |
| Women's Shot Put | Temidayo Owoyemi (Flight 2) Akaoma Odeluga (Flight 3) |
|
| 7:30 PM | Men's Shot Put (To Follow Men's Hammer Invite) | Tarik Robinson-O'Hagan (Flight 3) |
| 7:45 PM | Women's 1500-Meter (Invite) | Ella Johnson (Heat 1) Beth Arentz (Heat 2) Sophie Baumann (Heat 2) Loral Winn (Heat 2) |
| 8:00 PM | Men's 1500-Meter (Invite) | Zack Gilbertson (Heat 1) Sergio Del Barrio (Heat 2) Gabe Scales (Heat 2) John Shoemaker (Heat 2) Evan Thornton-Sherman (Heat 3) |
| 9:00 PM | Men's 5K | Owen Kelley (Heat 1) |
| 9:40 PM | Men's 5K (Invite) | Aiden Britt Kidus Misgina Marco Perez |
| Day Two | Saturday, April 18 | ||
| Time | Event | Athlete(s) |
| 11:30 AM | Women's 100-Meter Hurdles | Carmela Coulter Nyajah Gordon Jordan Rochester |
| 11:45 AM | Women's Discus | Akaoma Odeluga (Flight 2) Temidayo Owoyemi (Flight 2) Skylar Soli (Flight 2) |
| Men's Discus (To Follow Women) | Ashton Hearn (Flight 3) | |
| 12:30 PM | Women's 200-Meter Dash | Carmela Coulter Nyajah Gordon |
| 1:00 PM | Men's Pole Vault | Logan Kelley |
| 1:30 PM | Women's Triple Jump | Indya Dotson (Flight 2) Bayli Major (Flight 2) Kyle Johnson (Flight 3) Sterling Scott (Flight 3) |
| 2:00 PM | Men's Triple Jump | Solomon Finley (Flight 1) Mikoy Holmes (Flight 2) |
| 2:15 PM | Women's 4x100-Meter Relay | -- |
| 2:30 PM | Men's 4x100-Meter Relay | -- |
| Men's High Jump (Invite) | Arvesta Troupe | |
| 3:10 PM | Men's 400-Meter Dash | Wesley Todd |
| 4:00 PM | Women's 200-Meter Dash (Invite) | Patchnalie Compere Myla Reed |
| 4:20 PM | Men's 200-Meter Dash (Invite) | Joshua Knox Dekell Minor Jordan Urrutia Tarique Wright |
Players Mentioned
Distance
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Distance
/ Track and Field
Distance
/ Track and Field
Distance
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Pole Vault
/ Track and Field
Distance
/ Track and Field
Sprints
/ Track and Field
Sprints
/ Track and Field
Multi
/ Track and Field
Throws
/ Track and Field
Distance
/ Track and Field
Jumps
/ Track and Field
Pole Vault
/ Track and Field
Distance
/ Track and Field
Throws
/ Track and Field
Sprints
/ Track and Field
Jumps
/ Track and Field
Distance
/ Track and Field
Pole Vault
/ Track and Field
Distance
/ Track and Field
Multi
/ Track and Field
Jumps
/ Track and Field
Throws
/ Track and Field
Throws
/ Track and Field
Jumps
/ Track and Field
Pole Vault
/ Track and Field
Distance
/ Track and Field
Jumps
/ Track and Field
Pole Vault
/ Track and Field
Distance
/ Track and Field
Sprints
/ Track and Field
Sprints
/ Track and Field
Jumps
/ Track and Field
Distance
/ Track and Field
Pole Vault
/ Track and Field
Sprints
/ Track and Field
Distance
/ Track and Field
Distance
/ Track and Field
Throws
/ Track and Field
Throws
/ Track and Field
Distance
/ Track and Field
Distance
/ Track and Field
Sprints
/ Track and Field
Throws
/ Track and Field
Sprints
/ Track and Field
Distance
/ Track and Field
Distance
/ Track and Field
Jumps
/ Track and Field
Distance
/ Track and Field
Throws
/ Track and Field
Throws
/ Track and Field
Distance
/ Track and Field
Sprints
/ Track and Field
Jumps
/ Track and Field
Distance
/ Track and Field
Sprints
/ Track and Field
Distance
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Throws
/ Track and Field
Sprints
/ Track and FieldINTERVIEW: Tarik Robinson-O'Hagan Talks NCAA Shot Three-Peat
Saturday, March 14
HIGHLIGHTS: Alicia Burnett Finishes Fourth in NCAA 60-Meter Final
Saturday, March 14
HIGHLIGHTS: Akaoma Odeluga Finishes NCAA Runner-Up in Shot Put
Saturday, March 14
HIGHLIGHTS: Tarik Robinson-O'Hagan Wins Third Straight NCAA Indoor Shot Put Title
Saturday, March 14