BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (January 19, 2019) – Mississippi Valley State track and field teams continued their indoor season with their first meet of the new year at the Samford January Open Indoor Meet hosted by Samford University. The men recorded six top-10 finishes including second in the 200m and third in the 5000m while the women had four top-10 performances highlighted by a second-place finish in the shot put.

The Delta Devils had three season-best performances led by senior Laval Davis. Davis placed second in the men's 200m with a time of 21.56 dropping .14 from his performance at the A State Kickoff in December. Davis also competed in the men's 60m dash (6.97) and placed 10^th in the semifinals after running 6.90 in the preliminaries.  

A pair of first-year Delta Devil runners shined alongside Davis at the Crossplex. Freshman Stanley Rop made his collegiate debut crossing the finish line in third place with the current fastest time in the conference of 15:48.08 in the 5000m. In the 3000m, Rop recorded his second top-10 finish coming ninth (9:14.42). Freshman Christopher Bailey ran in the 400m and posted his fastest time thus far of 49.32 placing fifth.

The 4x400m relay team of Bailey, sophomore Joseph Mitchell, freshman Samuel Garnder, and Davis ran a time of 3:21.86 placing third overall beating conference foes Southern (3:22.18) and Alcorn State (3:24.11).

For the women, a pair of throwers had strong showings at the Samford Indoor Meet for the Devilettes. Sophomore Tyefah Saunders placed second in the shot put finals tossing 13.29m while junior Tiara DeRosa finished ninth in the shot put measuring 12.11m.

The Devilettes had a trio of runners notch their fastest times of the indoor season. Sophomore Ajani Williams placed eighth in the women's 400m cutting off two-seconds from her first meet of the indoor season. In the women's 800m, senior Iyanna Alexander (2:29.16) ran a solid race placing 11^th also dropping two-seconds from her previous performance and sophomore ZaBasija Price ran a personal-record time of 2:52.66.

The MVSU women's 4x400m relay team of Williams, junior Jala Allen, Alexander, and sophomore Mya Dumpson finished seventh (4:05.11).

MVSU track and field returns to action on Friday, Jan. 25 with a trip to Jonesboro, Ark. for the A-State Invitational, hosted by Arkansas State.