Hall rebounds from difficult long jump series to earn Bulldogs’ first conference pentathlon crown since Williams from 2015-17; Mardal eclipses Henning’s weight throw mark for Gators’ third straight title, Mitchell edges Rebels’ teammate Taiwo, with Ole Miss men and Alabama women achieving memorable DMR wins

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

It was shaping up to be the best head-to-head women’s pentathlon showdown in Southeastern Conference Indoor Championship history, and possibly one of the best all-time collegiate competitions.

Then, the long jump made short work of those record-setting aspirations Thursday at Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Ark.

Through three events, Georgia sophomore Anna Hall and Texas A&M senior Tyra Gittens, the reigning SEC champion, were both in position to challenge the 2017 conference finals record of 4,686 points achieved by former four-time NCAA Division 1 champion Kendell Williams of Georgia, and possibly her all-time collegiate mark of 4,703 points in 2016.

But Hall jumped 18 feet, 4.50 inches (5.60m) on her only fair leap of the three-round long jump competition, with Gittens struggling even more, managing a third-round effort of 13-6 (4.11m).

Those marks took all of the steam out of their memorable pursuits, before Hall rebounded to win the 800 meters in 2 minutes, 10.89 seconds and finish with 4,521 points to capture her first career SEC title, the first for the Bulldogs since Williams won three straight from 2015-17.

Florida junior Sterling Lester, a Georgia transfer, was second with a personal-best 4,095 points, as five athletes eclipsed the 4,000-point barrier. Gittens finished sixth overall with 3,818 points, well off her collegiate-leading 4,612, which ranks her as the No. 3 all-time NCAA indoor performer.

“My (long jump) mark was really off for some reason. Tyra’s was too and some of the other girls on our pit as well,” said Hall, the fourth all-time collegiate indoor performer at 4,590 points from Jan. 29 in the same arena at the Razorback Invitational.

“I feel lucky that I got a mark in. I am, by no means, happy with 5.60m, but I was reaching because I was so far away from the board and still took off about a foot behind the board, so at the very least, I am not alarmed or any less confident in the progress I’ve made. I can’t speak for Tyra, but I know factors for both of us were definitely our marks.”

Hall led Gittens by a margin of 2,840 to 2,837 following the shot put. Hall was 87 points ahead of her pace from Jan. 29, with Gittens 60 points behind her three-event total from the Texas Tech Invitational.

In their previous pentathlons, Gittens had a long jump performance of 21-7.25 (6.58m) and Hall achieved a leap of 19-8 (5.99m).

“It was so hard to come back and run the 800 hard,” Hall said. “It’s hard to push so hard when nothing was really on the line. But if COVID has taught me anything, it is not to take any meets for granted. So, I still wanted to finish strong in the multi. You never know if you will be back in that position again, so I wanted to run at least 2:12 to at least be over 4,500.

“I do feel like I could’ve run much harder if needed, but I didn’t see the point in completely draining the tank with high jump (Friday) and no PR, record or win on the line.”

Gittens and Hall, who both cleared 6-2.25 (1.89m) in the high jump, are scheduled to square off again Friday, along with LSU senior Abigail O’Donoghue, the 2019 SEC Indoor champion. Gittens has a personal-best 6-3.25 (1.91m), with Hall and O’Donoghue both boasting 6-2.25 indoor marks.

Hall edged Gittens by an 8.35 to 8.36 margin in the 60-meter hurdles, then did so again in the shot put, rallying with a third-round mark of 41-1.75 (12.54m) to surpass Gittens’ second-round effort of 41-1.50 (12.53m).

Championship meet records were set in both the men’s and women’s distance medley relays, with Ole Miss winning for the third year in a row and the seventh time in the past eight seasons, as Waleed Suliman, Marcus Dropik, Everett Smulders and Mario Garcia Romo clocked 9:29.35 to break the Rebels’ previous SEC finals standard of 9:32.36 in 2017.

Alabama, relying on a 4:31.98 anchor leg from Amaris Tyynismaa to elevate from fifth place entering the final 1,600, ran 10:59.21 to take down a 2011 championship record of 11:05.37 achieved by Tennessee.

Jami Reed, Christal Mosely and Lauren Turner ran the first three legs for Alabama, which captured its first women’s conference DMR crown since 1994.

Florida senior Thomas Mardal repeated in the men’s weight throw with a third-round mark of 79-3.25 (24.16m), also surpassing the conference championship record of 78-1 (23.80m) achieved by LSU’s Walter Henning in 2010. Mardal, who had four throws beyond three-time champion Henning’s record, helped the Gators win the event for the third year in a row and became the sixth athlete in conference history to win back-to-back weight throw titles.

Mardal also set the Norwegian national record and elevated to the No. 5 performer in Division 1 history.

Ole Miss took the top two spots in the women’s weight throw, with sophomore Jasmine Mitchell prevailing against senior Shey Taiwo, the defending champion, by a 76-3 (23.24m) to 75-7.25 (23.04m) margin. Mitchell became the third Ole Miss athlete in the past four years, joining Taiwo and Janeah Stewart, to secure an SEC women’s weight throw title.

Georgia sophomore Kyle Garland leads the heptathlon following the first day with 3,454 points, with Arkansas senior Markus Ballengee second at 3,280 points. Competition continues Friday and Saturday at Randal Tyson Track Center.