Ole Miss Odds and Ends: Shey Taiwo wins NCAA weight throw title, Jasmine Mitchell national runner-up

Staff and Wire Report | The weight of the world was on Shey Taiwo’s shoulders as she entered the ring for her final collegiate attempt in the weight throw. In third place by nearly five feet and with three fouls on the day, the pressure was mounting on the world leader to let one fly on her last toss. And let one fly she did.

Taiwo’s dramatic final heave soared a stupendous 25.55m/83-10, a career-best of more than a foot that fell frustratingly short of the NCAA record by just one centimeter and the world record by two inches on the dot. But the most important thing for Taiwo and the Rebels was the national title, which is now the ninth NCAA Indoor title in Ole Miss history and the third on the women’s side – joining a 2008 win by Olympian Brittney Reese in the long jump, and a 2017 win by fellow Olympian Raven Saunders in the shot put. Furthermore, she is the first Rebel to ever win in the weight throw, with the best prior finish being third-place performances from Taiwo in 2021 and Janeah Stewart in 2018.

The win also helps cap a remarkable senior indoor season for Taiwo, who plastered her name all over the NCAA record book week after week. She was named to the Bowerman Award Watch List on Feb. 2, and became just the second 25-meter thrower in NCAA history back in February. But a silver medal at the SEC Championships and the fouls that were mounting up on Friday pushed her to the brink – her final collegiate weight throw attempt – in order to secure her first NCAA title and her legacy in the weight throw collegiately.

“(Going into the final throw) I (had) to maintain confidence, maintain just knowing that all the training, all the practicing that I put into this is going to be worth it in the end,” Taiwo told ESPN’s John Anderson after the competition. “So it really was just like a last-minute effort, and I’m glad that I held on mentally and physically.”

Taiwo’s gigantic final toss improves on her place as the second-best in NCAA history behind collegiate record holder Brittany Riley, who threw 25.56m/83-10.25 in 2007 under the tutelage of Ole Miss head coach Connie Price-Smith and throws coach John Smith while they were at Southern Illinois. Furthermore, Taiwo also improves on her place as the No. 3 thrower in world history with now the third-best throw ever, only trailing Riley and world record holder Gwen Berry’s 2017 throw of 25.60m/84-0.

Adding to the triumphant joy for the Rebel delegation by the throws area was a career-day from SEC Champion and junior Jasmine Mitchell, who finished as NCAA runner-up to give Ole Miss a big one-two punch of 18 team points from the weight throw alone. Mitchell took the lead in the first round at a PR of 24.03m/78-10.25 before unleashing a mammoth improvement on her third attempt at 24.94m/81-10 – a four-and-a-half-foot PR that moves her up to No. 3 in NCAA history on the seventh-best throw and No. 5 in world history on the 12th-best throw. In world history entering this season, only three women had ever eclipsed 25 meters in the weight throw (Berry, Riley and Janeah Stewart), with Taiwo and Mitchell now joining that crew having done so within the same meet.

Mitchell, who has bested Taiwo for each of the last two SEC titles, was about to do the same for this year’s national title, as she held more than a three-foot lead on the field entering Taiwo’s last throw. Mitchell has qualified and earned All-American in the weight throw in each of her three trips to the national meet, earning a blanket honor for the cancelled 2020 edition and finishing fourth behind Taiwo in 2021.

Mitchell is the first NCAA Indoor runner-up in Ole Miss women’s history, and the 10th overall in the combined history of the program. Additionally, this constitutes just the fifth time in NCAA history a team has claimed the top-two spots in the women’s weight throw, joining back-to-back instances from Florida in 2003 and 2004, and South Carolina in 1996 and 1997.

Ole Miss also received some points from the Rebel women’s distance medley relay squad. The reigning SEC champion quartet of Anna Elkin (1200-meter, 3:30.11), Jayda Eckford (400-meter, 56.29), Loral Winn (800-meter, 2:05.57) and Sintayehu Vissa (mile, 4:32.90) finished sixth at 11:04.86 to earn First-Team All-American honors. This marks the highest national finish ever for a Rebel women’s DMR, besting the only other national appearance in the event by Ole Miss in 2021 when the Rebels finished eighth.

Vissa, who has been a one-woman wrecking crew for the Rebels all season long, ran that 4:32.90 anchor leg less than two hours after running a facility record 4:33.13 in the women’s mile semifinal – punching her ticket to Saturday’s final with the top qualifying time of the night. Vissa entered the meet seeded sixth at her school record 4:32.70.

Ole Miss went 4-for-4 in men’s finals qualifiers as well, punching crucial tickets to Saturday finals in both the men’s 800-meter and mile.

All-American senior John Rivera Jr. and newcomer Tiarnan Crorken set to work in the 800-meter semifinal, both earning auto-qualifier spots to the final. Rivera clocked the third-best prelim time at 1:47.48, while Crorken finished fourth overall at a collegiate best 1:47.64 – which improves upon his place in fifth all-time at Ole Miss.

In the men’s mile semifinal, All-American Mario Garcia Romo claimed an AQ spot in his heat at 4:01.39 (eighth overall), but newcomer James Young had to battle in a fast first heat and wait to see if his time of 3:58.64 would make it in. Young’s gutsy late effort proved to be enough, as he snagged one of two time qualifier slots to give the Rebels a double-presence in the mile final on Saturday.

Also in action on Saturday was junior Lyndsey Reed, who fell just shy of scoring in the women’s pole vault to cap a strong indoor campaign. Reed finished ninth overall at 4.26m/13-11.75, which earns her Second-Team All-American honors.

Competition resumes for Ole Miss at 4 p.m. CT on Saturday with the men’s mile final, followed by the men’s 800-meter final at 4:45 p.m. CT, the women’s mile final at 7 p.m. CT and Jalani Davis in the women’s shot put final also at 7 p.m. CT.

Day One First-Team All-Americans

Shey Taiwo – Women’s Weight Throw, NCAA Champion

Jasmine Mitchell – Women’s Weight Throw, NCAA Runner-Up

Jayda Eckford – Women’s Distance Medley Relay, 6th Place

Anna Elkin – Women’s Distance Medley Relay, 6th Place

Sintayehu Vissa – Women’s Distance Medley Relay, 6th Place

Loral Winn – Women’s Distance Medley Relay, 6th Place

Day One Second-Team All-Americans

Lyndsey Reed – Women’s Pole Vault, 9th Place

Shane Bracken – Men’s Distance Medley Relay, 11th Place

Cruz Culpepper – Men’s Distance Medley Relay, 11th Place

Marcus Dropik – Men’s Distance Medley Relay, 11th Place

Elijah Dryer – Men’s Distance Medley Relay, 11th Place

Day One Finals Qualifiers

Tiarnan Crorken – Men’s 800-Meter

Mario Garcia Romo – Men’s Mile

John Rivera Jr. – Men’s 800-Meter

Sintayehu Vissa – Women’s Mile

James Young – Men’s Mile

REBELS IN DAY ONE COMPETITION

Men’s 800-Meter Semifinals

3. John Rivera Jr. – 1:47.48 (AQ)

4. Tiarnan Crorken – 1:47.64 (AQ) – PR, No. 5 Ole Miss History

Women’s Mile Semifinals

1. Sintayehu Vissa – 4:33.13 (AQ) – Facility Record

Men’s Mile Semifinals

5. James Young – 3:58.64 (q)

8. Mario Garcia Romo – 4:01.39 (AQ)

Women’s Distance Medley Relay Final

6. Anna Elkin, Jayda Eckford, Loral Winn, Sintayehu Vissa – 11:04.86 – First-Team All-Americans, No. 5 Ole Miss History

Splits:

Anna Elkin (1200m) – 3:30.11

Jayda Eckford (400m) – 56.29

Loral Winn (800m) – 2:05.57

Sintayehu Vissa (Mile) – 4:32.90

Men’s Distance Medley Relay Final

11. Cruz Culpepper, Elijah Dryer, Marcus Dropik, Shane Bracken – 9:35.94 – No. 13 Ole Miss History

Splits:

Cruz Culpepper (1200m) – 2:56.98

Elijah Dryer (400m) – 49.55

Marcus Dropik (800m) – 1:49.96

Shane Bracken (Mile) – 3:59.47

Women’s Pole Vault Final

9. Lyndsey Reed – 4.26m/13-11.75 – Second-Team All-American

Women’s Weight Throw Final

1. Shey Taiwo – 25.55m/83-10 – NCAA Champion, No. 2 NCAA History (No. 2 throw), No. 3 World History (No. 3 throw), No. 2 NCAA Meet History, 2022 World Lead, Facility Record, SEC Record, Ole Miss Record

2. Jasmine Mitchell – 24.94m/81-10 – NCAA Runner-Up, No. 3 NCAA History (No. 7 throw), No. 5 World History (No. 12 throw), No. 2 Ole Miss History

FOUL Jalani Davis