JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – After qualifying for the 2024 Olympic Games, two more University of Mississippi Rebels will be packing their bags and heading to Paris as members of Team USA.
On Saturday, Mackenzie Long, a current student at the university, and graduate Raven Sanders both qualified to compete in their respective events on Day 8 of the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials.
Long placed third in the women’s 200m final in 21.91 seconds, the second-fastest wind-time 200m time of her career and the fastest ever by a third-place finisher at the Trials.
In addition to being a multiple-time NCAA National Champion, Long’s impressive performance makes her the first woman in University of Mississippi history to qualify for the Olympic Games in running, joining Brittney Reese and Raven Sanders as the only women to be Olympians in the track and field program’s history, according to the university.
In the women’s shot put, Sanders, the reigning Olympic silver medalist, needed just one throw to make the U.S. team.
This will be Sanders’ third Olympic appearance. She finished fifth at the 2016 Rio Olympics and won a silver medal at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. Sanders becomes just the eighth woman in U.S. history to make three Olympic teams in the shot put, joining Ole Miss head coach Connie Price-Smith.
With the addition of Long and Sanders, three University of Mississippi Rebel athletes will compete as part of the U.S. Olympic team in Paris, with alumnus and Olympic medalist Sam Kendricks also qualifying for France in the men’s pole vault.
The 2024 Olympic Games will run from Friday 26 July to Sunday 11 August.
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