BATON ROUGE, La. | 36 years ago, Jackson State freshman Mark Thorne stood with his teammates as the Jackson State men's track and field team was awarded the championship trophy, and tonight he stood with his team as the head coach of the 2026 Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) Outdoor Track and Field champions as the program won its first title since 1990.

Thorne was named the MVP of the meet in 1990 and was named the SWAC Coach of the Year following this year's meet - 36 years later.

The Tigers pulled away from the field with multiple medalists to win by 32 points, scoring 142 overall and finishing ahead of Texas Southern with 110 points. Bethune-Cookman finished third with 104.5 and Florida A&M finished fourth with 86 total points.

During the meet, Jackson State claimed a pair of gold medals with multiple student-athletes scoring points. Collins Kibet claimed the gold in the 3000-meter steeplechase with a time of 9:41.74, while Kaiden Berry - the co-Most Outstanding Field Performer - claimed gold in the shot put with a throw of 17.13 meters (56-02.50).

Sedgwrick Pitts Jr. finished fourth in the 200-meters with a time of 20.96 seconds, while Rickey Green III finished seventh in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 56.77 seconds - both scoring points for the Tigers. Duncan Koima led three runners with six points and a third-place finish (4:02.22). He was joined by Godfrey Kimutai in sixth place (4:05.74) and Fabian Campbell in seventh place (4:07.12) in the 1500-meters; while Eric Lagat finished third in the 3000-meter steeplechase with a time of 9:55.87.

The distance runners continued to add points through the course of the meet as Koima finished second (15:23.90) in the 5000-meters, followed by Kimutai in third with a time of 15:24.20, Kipruto sixth in a time of 15:48.09, and Lagat in seventh with a time of 16:09.10. Kiprutio added more points with a second place finish in the 10,000 meters with a time of 32:35.90, followed by Koima in third with a time of 32:50.30, and Lagat in fifth with a time of 33:36.34.

Kaiden Berry led the Tigers' contingent in the discus with a second-place finish with a distance of 49.17 meters (163-01), followed by Elijah Blige in third with a distance of 58.49 meters (159-05), and Da'Lon Harris in fourth with a distance of 48.55 meters (159-03). Robert Salhab III finished third in the hammer after a throw of 54.78  meters (179-08), and Harris fourth with a distance of 54.16 meters (177-08). Jordin Smith scored for the Tigers with a clearance of 2.02 meters (6-07-50), while Jared Lockhart scored in the javelin with a fourth place finish and a distance of 59.19 meters (194-02).

Korbin Lewis finished with a height of of 4.12 meters (13-06.25), while Salhab finished second in the shot put with a throw of 16.32 meters (53-06.50), and Blige finished seventh in the same event with a toss of 14.95 meters (49.00-75). Meanwhile, Conner Cooper finished fifth in the decathlon with 5,046 points.

On the women's side, the Tigers finished seventh overall behind the meet Most Outstanding Field Athlete, Malayna Mallory with a first place finish in the discus with a throw of 50.00 meters (164.00). She also finished second in the hammer throw with a distance of 53.67 meters (176-01), and a sixth place finish in the javelin at 30.34 meters (99-06). She also finished fourth in the shot put with a throw of 12.81 meters (42-00.50).

Kaylin Jackson finished fourth overall in the 800-meters with a time of 2:14.09, while Joan Koech finished seventh in the 1500-meters with a time of 5:00.17. A pair of runners scored in the 3000-meter steeplechase with Lorine Jelagat finishing fifth in 11:55.93, followed by Koech in sixth at 11:59.47 before she finished seventh in the 10,000 meters with a time of 42:49.00. Meanwhile, Madyson McGill finished fourth overall with a height of 3.06 meters (10-00.50) in the pole vault, and Nedgine Morancy finished fifth in the triple jump with a distance of 12.36 meters (40-06.75).

The women's 4x100-meter relay and 4x400-meter relay teams each finished eight overall.

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