MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Octavia Cato found herself atop the podium at the Dean A. Hayes Track and Soccer Stadium after running a personal-best 11.51 to win the women’s 100m dash at the Conference USA Outdoor Championships hosted by Middle Tennessee State University.

“Octavia Cato was sensational,” head coach Jon Stuart said. “We knew she was talented when we signed her. She had some injures that had taken her out of most of the indoor season, but she’s such a talent that when the bright lights come on, the talent comes out.” .

Overall, the women of Southern Miss finished fifth with 70 points, while the men finished seventh with 57 points.

“These championship meets are hard and take a lot of heart, endurance and hard work to be successful,” Stuart added. “After having such a tremendously successful indoor season, were still pretty resilient. We battled some injuries, but we had a great outdoor season. We were able to get some people through to the NCAA Regionals and I couldn’t be more proud of how we finished the season.”

Zaria Jones also made a trip to the podium, earning a silver medal in the high jump with a mark of 5’7″.

“Zaria had a clutch performance to give our team a big boost. She was a quiet leader for us and I was excited to see her perform so well,” Stuart concluded.

Corvell Todd and Eric Richards continued their success with a second and third place finish in the men’s high jump, while the women’s 4×100 and men’s 4×400 rounded out the podium performances with a second and third place finish.

Below is the full list of performances that earned points for the Golden Eagles.

Men
Hammer – Joe Wager, 7th, 170’8″
High Jump – Corvell Todd, 2nd, 7’0.50″ / Eric Richards, 3rd, 6’11.5″
Discus – Wager, 8th, 156’9″
Javelin – Trevor Leinstock, 6th, 190’8″ / Ty Pridgen, 7th, 186’6″
4×100 – Elijah Miller, Elijah Burton, Cardet Bienvenue, 3rd, 40.30
Triple Jump – Tyler Proctor, 5th, 49’7″ / PJ Edwards, 7th, 47’11.75″
400m – Trey Johnson, 4th, 47.62
100m – Miller, 4th, 10.52
400m hurdles – Landon Chalden, 4th, 52.42
200m – Bienvenue, 6th, 21.28 / Miller, 8th, 21.56
4×400 – Chalden, Johnson, Dylan Evans, DJ Butler, 3rd, 3:09.84

Women
Heptathlon – Marquasha Myers, 7th, 4529 points
Hammer – Isabella Simonelli, 6th, 174’11”
High Jump – Zaria Jones, 2nd, 5’7″
10K – Lina May, 4th, 35:03.06
Long Jump – Ashlee Osaji, 5th, 19’9.5″
3000m steeplechase – Cassidy Teuscher, 5th, 11:07.22
Triple Jump – Myers, 8th, 40’11”
4×100 – Trinity Flagler, Cato, Vivette Green, Trinity Benson, 3rd, 45.12
100m – Cato, 1st, 11.51 / Benson, 5th, 11.78 / Green, 6th, 11.80
400m hurdles – Tatiyana Jennings, 6th, 1:03.12
200m – Green, 5th, 24.30 / Benson, 7th, 24.37
5K – May, 5th, 17:08.00
4×400 – Savi’a Varnell, Jasmine Griffin, Taylor Harris, Benson, 8th, 3:48.92