The No. 17 Nationally Ranked Dillard Men’s Track & Field Program Off To Compete in the 2022 NAIA Outdoor Track & Field National Championships This Week

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New Orleans – The No. 17 nationally ranked Dillard's men's outdoor track & field program sends a delegation of nine student-athletes to compete in six different events this week from May 25 -27 at the 2022 NAIA Outdoor Track & Field National Championships in Gulf Shores, Alabama at Mickey Blackwell Stadium.

The competition list for this week includes Cody Branch (100m, 200m, 400m, 4x100m relay and 4x400m relay), Jamaal Morris Jr. (100m, 200m, 400m, 4x100m relay, 4x400m relay), Julian Williams (triple jump), Joshun Noel (4x400m relay), Christopher Watson (4x400m relay), Kaleb McClendon (4x100m relay, 200m), Willie McCaulley (4x100m relay), Benjamin Todd (4x400m relay) and James Ray Pennington III (4x100m relay).

The 4x100m relay group competes at 4:10 p.m. in the preliminaries on Wednesday, May 25. The 200m dash preliminaries is at 6:15 p.m. on Wednesday, May 25. The 100m dash preliminaries are at 4:40 p.m. on Thursday, May 26. The triple jump is on Friday, May 27, at 1:30 p.m. The finals of the 4x100m relay is on Friday, May 27, at 2:50 p.m. The finals of the 100m is on Friday, May 27, at 4 p.m. The finals of the 400m dash is on Friday, May 27, at 4:40 p.m. The finals of the 200m dash is on Friday, May 27, at 5:20 p.m. The 4x400m relay finals are on Friday, May 27, at 6:25 p.m.

Last week, Dillard's men's program was voted No. 11 in the South Region in the weekly USTFCCCA Poll that was released on May 16. The program followed that up by earning 17th place in the USTFCCCA's National Poll. It was the ninth straight week that the program has been ranked in the top-25.

The program has the second-ranked 4x100 relay group in the country (Willie McCaulley, Cody Branch, Kaleb McClendon and Jamaal Morris Jr.), the third-fastest 100m sprinter (Cody Branch), the fourth-ranked 200m sprinter (Jamaal Morris Jr.), the seventh-ranked 100m sprinter (Jamaal Morris Jr.), the 10th-ranked 200m sprinter (Cody Branch), the 14th-fastest 4x400m team (Cody Branch, Jamaal Morris Jr., Benjamin Todd and Kaleb McClendon), the 18th-ranked 400m sprinter (Cody Branch), the 21st 200m sprinter (Kaleb McClendon), the 23rd triple jumper (Julian Williams), the 25th-ranked 400m sprinter (Jamaal Morris Jr.).

Dillard won the 2022 GCAC Outdoor Track & Field Championship for the fourth time since 2010 on Saturday, April 23. The program had 15 event victories and 40 All-GCAC selections over the course of the two-days of competition. The program finished that up by seeing Jamaal Morris Jr. placing 17th in the 100m at the Penn Relays on April 29. DU saw their 4x100 relay team of Jamaal Morris Jr., Cody Branch, Kaleb McClendon and Willie McCaulley) get the invitation to the meet, but were not able to compete due to injury. The program finished second overall at the Carey Last Chance Meet on May 13. The program had four top-three finishes, four season bests and two event victories during the competition (the 4x100 relay team and Julian Williams in the triple jump).

Next, Dillard's men's program will begin off-season workout preparation for the summer.
           
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