For this week's 'Senior Sendoff' Segment, Mississippi MileSplit is featuring Makial Musgrove from Richland High School. Musgrove had a very interesting track career, in which he started as an 800 meter runner. However, his coach at Richland saw talent for him in the sprints, so switched him to the 100m and 200m. Once switching to the sprints, Musgrove had a fantastic senior season, in which he was the 2021 State Champion in both the 100m and 200m in class MHSAA 4A, winning in times of 10.84 and 21.82, both PR's. He then went on to place 2nd to Jordan Anthony 2 days later in the 200m at the Mississippi Meet of Champions, running into a heavy headwind, running 21.90. Besides the Mississippi Meet of Champions, Musgrove went undefeated in the 100m and 200m the entire 2021 season.
Musgrove has decided to take his sprinting talents to Hinds Community College in the Fall, a school that is historically fast in the sprints. Hinds is just coming off a season where they finished 18th at the NJCAA National Championships - Part of that Top 20 finish at Nationals was because of their 4x400m relay team finishing in 4th and their 4x100m finishing in 5th at Nationals. Hattiesburg High School alumni Keirston Paige was part of that 4x100m relay squad.
Whenever Makial arrives on campus, he is planning on majoring in Engineering. Hinds has been named one of the top-degree producing community colleges in the nation by Community College Week. Hinds is also the largest community college, and also the fourth largest institution of higher learning in the state of Mississippi.
Below, you can see a little bit on how Makial got to where he is today, and some advice he would like to give to young and up-and-coming athletes!
----
Explain your 'running journey'... (How did you get into running, how did your senior season go, and how did you get connected with the college that you are going to?)
I got in to running I started as a average 800m runner and a talented 300m hurdler, but my coach at the second school I attended knew I was a sprinter so for my senior season I not only set records for my school but I also won state in three of my four events and got a close second for my final event. I also got runner up in the 100m and 200m in the "Meet of champions". I got put on at the college I'm attending because my coach , Coach Reggie Hill, knew the coach at Hinds, and the coach at Hinds came and saw me win out of even the top 6a schools.
What is your most memorable meet/race and why?
The most memorable meet for me was the first Saint Andrews meet. This was because of my comeback win in the 4x200m race where I was 60m to 70m behind first and second and I not only caught them but I passed them.
Out of all your high school achievements, which one means the most to you and why?
Being the most decorated track athlete at Richland High School and being a part of the best senior class to go through Richland.
If you could go back and do it all over again, what would you change, if anything?
Not doing 110m hurdles. They were dreadful.
Who is somebody that you look up to / someone that helped you along your journey to get you where you are today?
Definitely my coach doing the extra work with me to get me better was definitely the edge I had.
What will you miss the most?
Talking to my teachers about my track meets, as this was probably my last time with this group of people.
What piece of advice would you give to the younger athletes that are just getting started on their journey?
No matter what, just strive to be the best and then pass that.
----
Are you a graduating senior who is competing in college, and you haven't filled out the survey yet? Well what are you waiting for?!? Fill it out for your chance to get your very own feature on Mississippi MileSplit, as well as letting other up-and-coming athletes know how to get to where you are.