Ole Miss Daily: Track and field's Eckford, Young Jr. named to SEC Community Service Team

Ole Miss track & field seniors Jayda Eckford and Ahmad Young Jr. have been named to the SEC Community Service Team for the 2022-23 school year, the conference announced Thursday.

This is the second consecutive year Eckford has made the team, and her community service activities for 2022-23 include: Adopt A Basket, through which the athletics department donated Thanksgiving baskets to families in need throughout the Lafayette-Oxford-University community (LOU); collected over 1,300 items and completed 107 holiday baskets for the Adopt-a-Basket initiative; Feed The Sip, which helped collect and donate more than 5,000 non-perishable food items for the children in Tunica and Quitman counties; MS Tornado Relief, which helped collect more than 6,000 non-perishable food items and hygiene products for those affected by tornadoes this spring in the Mississippi Delta; Jackson, MS Water Collection, which collected more than 5,000 bottles of water for families in need throughout the Jackson area in response to the water crisis.

Young Jr., likewise, contributed to numerous activities this school year, including: Adopt A Basket; Feed The Sip; the Jackson, MS Water Collection; and Reading with the Rebels, where he visited the local elementary schools in the L.O.U. areas to promote reading literacy and engage with students in the classrooms.

Both Rebels are set to represent Ole Miss at the 2023 NCAA Outdoor Championships, slated for June 7-10 at the University of Texas. Eckford is on her fourth straight trip to outdoor nationals as a member of the Rebel women’s 4×100-meter relay, while Young Jr. will compete in his first national meet in the men’s 110-meter hurdles.

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Ole Miss women’s track & field senior named CSC Academic All-District

Ole Miss women’s track & field All-American senior Loral Winn has been named to the 2022-23 College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team for Division I Women’s Track & Field and Cross Country, the CSC announced Wednesday.

Winn has been a key member of both the Rebel cross country and track & field teams during her Ole Miss career, helping contribute to the best team finishes in program history at the NCAA cross country meet in 2021 (10th), the NCAA Indoor meet in 2022 (T-6th) and SEC meets in cross country (2nd, 2021), indoor track (T-4th, 2023) and outdoor track (4th, 2023).

Across her Ole Miss track career, Winn is a two-time first-team All-American, a three-time NCAA East Region qualifier, a 2022 SEC Champion (DMR), and a seven-time SEC scorer. On the cross country course, Winn earned both NCAA All-South Region and second-team All-SEC honors in 2022.

In the Ole Miss record books, Winn has run on three school record relays in the indoor DMR (10:55.04; 2023), outdoor DMR (10:55.61; 2022) and outdoor 4×1500 (17:24.46; 2022). She also ranks No. 2 outdoors in the 1500-meter (4:15.25), No. 2 indoors in the mile (4:36.07), No. 2 indoors in the 3K (9:10.47), No. 3 outdoors in the 5K (15:55.27), No. 6 outdoors in the 800-meter (2:06.67) and No. 15 indoors in the 800-meter (2:10.66).

Academically, Winn recently completed her bachelor’s in journalism, finishing her undergraduate degree with a 3.98 GPA. Across her athletic career, Winn has been named to the USTFCCCA All-Academic teams four times – twice each across the cross country and track seasons.

This spring, Winn was named a Taylor Medal recipient, the highest academic honor conferred by the University of Mississippi. The honor is given out annually to less than one percent of the student body, and is awarded to students who are nominated for outstanding scholarship in their particular field combined with superior work in all other subjects. To be eligible, a student must have a GPA of 3.90 or higher and completed at least 105 hours of overall course credit.

The 2023 Academic All-District® Women’s Track & Field / Cross Country Teams, selected by College Sports Communicators, recognize the nation’s top student-athletes for their combined performances in the athletic realm and in the classroom. The CSC Academic All-America® program separately recognizes honorees in four divisions — NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and NAIA.

Academic All-District® honorees automatically advance to the CSC Academic All-America® ballot. First-, second and third-team Academic All-America® honorees will be announced June 28.