NEW YORK CITY, N.Y. --- A handful of Mississippi athletes took their talents to the iconic Armory Track to compete at the 2023 Nike Indoor Nationals.
Sterling Scott places second, New US No. 2 Triple Jump
University of Missouri signee Sterling Scott competed in both the Triple Jump and Long Jump Nike Indoor National Championship events this past weekend.
Coming into this meet, Scott held the country's eleventh-best triple jump mark indoors for this season. While competing against the nation's best, Scott leaped to the top of those rankings. By jumping 50-02, Scott drastically improved his already impressive personal best which was previously 47-9.25.
This astounding jump placed Scott as National Runner Up, behind Jaden Lippet of Winter Haven, FL.
From a national rankings perspective, the Starkville senior now ends the indoor season as the US No. 2 in Triple Jump.
In Long Jump, Scott finished 12th overall with a mark of 22-04.25. This jump was less than two inches short of being a personal best.
As the indoor season comes to a close, Scott has held onto his state lead in both triple jump and long jump. He will look to defend his long jump and triple jump 6A state titles this outdoor season.
When asked for a closing statement on his indoor season, this what Scott had to say:
"I'm very excited for this outdoor season. I'm glad I hit 50 feet indoor, but I'm hoping to extend that PR in the coming meets"
Heidi Hudson impressive High Jump outing & Pentathlon performance.
Sumrall High School's Heidi Hudson has been known for some time now as arguably the best jumper in Mississippi. She's also been known as one of the best hurdlers in the state as well. However, before this season, she was seldom on the radar for the best athlete in Mississippi. Not only has she become the best athlete in the state, but she has also become one of the best high school female athletes in the United States of America.
How did she get to this point? For starters, she had a fantastic indoor season in the jumps, never finishing below fourth in the long jump or high jump, and winning most of them. Her efforts in both events would have easily qualified her for Nike Indoor Nationals, but she saw an opportunity elsewhere.
At the Last Chance Invitational in Birmingham, Alabama, Hudson earned second place in the pentathlon, an event that includes the combined performances of the long jump, high jump, shot put, 60-meter hurdles, and the 800-meter run. With her point total of 3362 placing her well into the top 5 nationally, there was a good chance that she could contend in the pentathlon.
That said, Hudson still entered the individual high jump and earned second place with a height of 5-7, a monumental accomplishment for any high school athlete. However, she had her sights set on winning a national title. Early in the day she held her own, running a PR 9.34 in the 60mH, and was able to stay in contention.
She had set herself up well going into her strong events and it paid off, jumping 18-8 in the long jump for a close second place, and then destroying the field in the high jump, jumping 5-8.75 and finishing 135 points ahead of second place.
At this point, Hudson was 98 points back of first place going into the 800 meters.She had run 2:48 in this event before and to win, she had to run a time at least in the low 2:30s, which would have ranked among the top 800m runners in the state.
Fortunately for her, Hudson was able to dig deep in the final event and ran an enormous lifetime best of 2:28 to take the top spot and become a national champion.
Charve Gibson Becomes the Country's Best Eighth Grade Jumper
Jefferson County eighth grader, Charve Gibson, competed in the middle school ranks at the Nike Indoor Nationals. Like Mississippi's other athletes, Gibson had a busy weekend competing in multiple events.
Starting with the Middle School 60m dash prelims, Gibson placed second in her heat with a time of 8.18. This time placed her into the Middle School 55m dash final.
In the final, Gibson won her heat with a 55m time of 7.59. In the compiled results, she finished ninth overall.
Gibson had a great weekend in the field events, with personal bests in both long jump and triple jump.
Competing as the only middle schooler in the Emerging Elite section of the triple jump, Gibson finished runner up. Her mark of 39-03 gives her the state lead to close out the season. For triple jump, Gibson is the new US No. 1 for eighth grade and 40th across all grades.
In the Middle School Long Jump competition, Gibson went home with a win. Her jump of 18-0.5 was extremely impressive, placing her as the new US No. 1 for eighth grade.
While she is still young, Gibson has already solidified herself as one of the best jumpers in the state. It will be exciting to see what she has in store for this outdoor season.
