A League of Her Own: Ole Miss’ McKenzie Long completes NCAA sprint title sweep
Ole Miss track and field took over TitleTown USA this week.
Tarik Robinson-O’Hagan was the first to break through. Robinson-O’Hagan, on Wednesday, tossed a personal-best 30.88 in the shot put for the first-ever throwing title in Ole Miss history.
Turns out Robinson-O’Hagan was only getting the Rebels started.
McKenzie Long had long ago established herself as a world-class short-sprinter in a league of her own. But she somehow find yet another level of greatness on the final day of competition of the NCAA Outdoor Championships on Saturday.
Long secured the seventh-ever sweep for the Ole Miss women in the 100-meter, 200-meter and 4×100-meter relay.
“For the 100-meter, I literally went out on the blocks and my blocks setting was already set,” Long said, in recalling feeling her late mother’s presence as she readied to run.
“You usually have to fix your blocks before you get into your lane. The 100-meter is the event where I’m less comfortable compared to the 200-meter. When I went out there and the blocks were already set in my settings, I was shook.
“I was like, ‘Mom, this is instantly you.’ That was her, and I felt her.”
WATCH: All three races of McKenzie Long’s triple crown at the 2024 NCAA Outdoor Championships
All Love For The Champ ❤️💙 pic.twitter.com/VzYPK96mpc
— Ole Miss Track & Field (@OleMissTrack) June 8, 2024
21.83. 🏆
— NCAA Track & Field (@NCAATrackField) June 8, 2024
The triple crown. McKenzie Long is a NCAA Champion! (for the third time today)
📺 ESPN#NCAATF x @OleMissTrack pic.twitter.com/HM00yiYKfs
MCKENZIE LONG WINS THE WOMEN'S 100M FINAL (10.82) 🔥 @OleMissTrack
— ESPN (@espn) June 8, 2024
She sets a new personal record 👏 pic.twitter.com/ujWxsgOIol
Long is one of 15 women in Division-I history to complete the 100/200 sweep.
She’s one of six to sweep the 100/200 and also run on a winning 4×1.
The 4×1 title — secured with a 42.34 second run from the team of Long, Akilah Lewis, Gabrielle Matthews and Jahniya Bowers — is the first for Ole Miss in program history. The Rebels are the first first-time 4×1 champion since South Carolina in 2002.
Long carried the second leg.
Ole Miss is also the first school not named Texas, USC or LSU to win the championship since Kentucky in 2017. The Rebels are the fourth in NCAA Outdoor history to sweep all three events.
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“We’ve been working really hard all year for this,” Lewis said. “We knew the job wouldn’t be complete until we won. So, it’s really satisfying to go out there and run a good race and bring home the title.”
Ole Miss clinched its best-ever outdoors finish (fifth place, 38 points) and tied for their best-ever finish in indoors and outdoors. The Rebel men and women ended up in the Top 25 outdoors for the first time in the same season. They were both in the Top 15 indoors.
Long heads off for her professional career ranked No. 2 in college history, as well as tied for No. 10 in the U.S. and tied for No. 24 in the world.
“I talk to my mom every day,” Long said. “Everything I do is for her. And in those blocks, I told my mom, ‘This is my last race. So, push me through.’
“She did.”
Matthews was named an All-American, as was Toby Gillen on the men’s side.
