Ole Miss track and field produced four individual titles last weekend at the 2024 NCAA Outdoor Championships.
The Rebel quartet of Akilah Lewis, McKenzie Long, Gabrielle Matthews and Jahniya Bowers posted the ninth-best 4×100-meter relay time time (42.34) in school history to bring home the program’s first-ever title in the event.
Long — who won additional titles in the 100-meter and 200-meter — built Ole Miss’ lead on her second leg. But it was Matthews on the third who blew the door open. Bowers coasted to the finish.
“We’ve been working really hard all year for this,” Lewis said. “We knew the job wouldn’t be complete until we won. It was really satisfying to go out there and execute our race to bring home the title.”
The last first-time winner int he women’s 4×1 was South Carolina in 2002. Ole Miss is the first school not named LSU, Texas or USC to win since 2017 (Kentucky).
“It feels like we have something to prove at this meet,” Lewis said. “I feel like, in a sense, we’ve been the underdogs all season because other schools have done this before. It’s our first time, so it was a great experience to go in there and execute.
“I know we could have run faster because we’ve had better exchanges in the past, but once we got the stick around I knew we would win,” Lewis concluded. “We have the best team, we have the best chemistry, so I knew winning today was the only option.”
Included is the race in its entirety. The highlights were provided by Ole Miss Sports Production.
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