Photo courtesy USM Athletics
Senior sprinter McKinely West of the University of Southern Mississippi showed up and showed out at the Conference USA Indoor Track and Field Championship when he dominated at the 60-meter and 200-meter events.
During the preliminaries of the 60-meter, West broke the C-USA Meet record with a time of 6.61 seconds. In the finals, he tied a record of 6.64 seconds that a sprinter from East Carolina University made in 2013 and that a sprinter from Louisiana Tech University tied in 2016.
For the second year in a row, West won the 60-meter. He kept up his record-shattering day when he broke the C-USA Meet record for the 200-meter, posting a time of 20.66 seconds, setting another record and winning the event for the second straight year.
The Camila, Ga., native helped the 4x400 team place fourth at the event with a time of 3:13.06.
Before joining the Golden Eagle track-and-field team in 2018, West went to Barton Community College in Great Bend, Kan., where he was a two-time All-American. Last season at USM, West was named All-American for the third time in his college career.
At last year's C-USA Indoor Track and Field Championship, he set a USM record in the 60-meter with a time of 6.66 seconds in the 60-meter. He also set the school record with a time of 20.85 seconds in the 200-meter. West won the 100-meter and helped the 4x400-meter relay team take first place at the C-USA Meet for outdoor track-and-field. He was named C-USA Meet Athlete for both indoor and outdoor that year. He was also an NCAA Regional Qualifier for the 100-meter, 200-meter and 4x400-meter relay team for indoors, and an NCAA Regional Qualifier for the same events during the outdoor season. In the East Regional Championships in Tampa, Fla., he set the school record in the 100-meter with a time of 10.07 seconds.
He is now a six-time C-USA Champion after winning the 60-meter and 200-meter in back-to-back years, and taking the title in 100-meter and 4x400-meter relay last year. The sprinter will be a good bet to add to his totals when the outdoor championships happen later this year.
The close of the indoor season begins another strong start for West. He will try to reach the NCAA Indoor Championships before the outdoor track-and-field season begins this spring.
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