Head-to-head matchups to watch for at the 2025 SEC outdoor track and field championships

The SEC outdoor men’s and women’s track and field championships is always one of the premier meets in collegiate track and field. 2025’s meet should be no different. The SEC championships are filled with top-ranked teams and loaded with some of the top regular-season performers, creating must-watch matchups. Here’s a look at some of the top potential head-to-head matchups to watch. 

Note: At the time of writing (Wednesday, May 7) the start lists for the SEC Championships haven’t been published, meaning athletes listed below may not participate in an event. These aren’t guaranteed because some matchups may need athletes to advance to the finals to happen.

COMPLETE COVERAGE: Updates, schedule and results for the 2025 SEC outdoor track and field championships

Men

100 meters — Israel Okon (Auburn) vs. Kanyinsola Ajayi (Auburn) vs. Jordan Anthony (Arkansas) vs. Jelani Watkins (LSU)

The SEC 100 meters is wide open this year. Auburn’s Israel Okon has run 9.91 (+2.9) and 10.07 in his two races this year, and his teammate Kanyinsola Ajayi has run a wind-legal 9.96 in his lone 100 meters run. 

But this isn’t a competition between solely the Auburn Tigers, as a pair of dual-sport athletes will contest for the 100 meter crown. Arkansas’s Jordan Anthony and LSU’s Jelani Watkins have run 9.98 seconds and 10.01 seconds, respectively. The quartet of sprinters will make the 100 exciting in Lexington this year.

RECORDS: Every track and field record broken in 2025

110 hurdles — Ja’Kobe Tharp (Auburn) vs. Everyone else

Winning a title puts a target on your back and Auburn’s Ja’Kobe Tharp has just that after winning the SEC outdoor 110 hurdles title last year and winning the indoor 60 hurdles NCAA title this year. Tharp will have to defend his SEC title he won this year, with the added pressure of knowing that he hasn’t run the fastest time in the event entering the meet.

Texas’s Kendrick Smallwood leads the nation with his 13.07 (+2.3) while Florida’s Demaris Waters has the top wind-legal time of 13.21 (+0.7). Texas A&M’s Ja’Qualon Scott and LSU’s hurdle duo of Matthew Sophia and Jahiem Stern have also run faster than the defending SEC 110 hurdles champion, who can’t be counted out.

That’s six of the top eight times in the nation all in the SEC. Get your popcorn ready.

400 hurdles — Jevon Williams (Tennessee) vs. Kody Blackwood (Texas) 

Déjà vu? No, it’s just the SEC. That’s what you’ll realize when you see Tennessee’s Jevon Williams and Texas’ Kody Blackwood run the 400 hurdles at the SEC championships.

Williams beat Blackwood in the nation’s fastest 400 hurdles race earlier this year at the Tom Jones Invitational when the duo outpaced a professional Olympian (Trevor Bassitt) as both went sub-49 seconds.

If we get a repeat of this race at the SEC Championships, we’ll be in for a treat.

PAST 2025 MEETS: Penn Relays | Florida Relays | Texas Relays

800 meters — Abdullahi Hassan (Mississippi State) vs. Rivaldo Marshall (Arkansas)

Abdullahi Hassan and Rivaldo Marshall have been two of the best 800 meter runners in the NCAA for multiple years now. The two were both in the Big Ten in 2024 before transferring to the SEC. Now, only 0.2 seconds separate their season’s-best times in 2025, with both athletes ranking in the top four in the 800 nationally. 

Across the last two years, Rivaldo Marshall has finished ahead of Abdullahi Hassan in three of the five races that both have run in. With the high stakes of the SEC, we’ll get another chapter to this rivalry.

PAST SEC OUTDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS: 2024 | 2023

Women

100 hurdles — Habiba Harris (Florida) vs. Akala Garrett (Texas) vs. Jaiya Covington (Texas A&M) vs. Myreanna Bebe (Tennessee)

The SEC 100 hurdles is loaded as always in 2025. Habiba Harris, Akala Garrett, Jaiya Covington and Myreanna Bebe have four of the top five times (all-conditions) in the country this year and none of 2025’s top four finishers in the SEC 100 hurdles are back this year.

In fact, Jaiya Covington is the only finalist from last year’s SEC championships, where she finished fifth. Of course, since then, the Aggie has added the NCAA indoor 60 hurdles title to her resume. Yet, she only has the third-fastest time of the quartet.

Akala Garrett has run 12.75 (+2.6) this year and has gone sub-13.1 seconds at three of her four meets this year. Habiba Harris has the national lead at 12.69 seconds (+2.1 and is only a freshman. 

Let’s not forget about Myreanna Bebe either. She has the nation’s fastest wind-legal time this year running 12.81 seconds (+1.8) to send a statement open May. 

What has become a fan-favorite event in recent years figures to live up to the hype as these four women race in the 100 hurdles at the SEC Championships.

AWARD WATCH: Here are the Bowerman frontrunners entering May

100 meters — JaMeesia Ford (South Carolina) vs. Camryn Dickson (Texas A&M)

The SEC always has its share of versatile sprinters, and this year, JaMeesia Ford and Camryn Dickson are two of the best. Ford has run 11.02 and Dickson has run 11.04 in the 100 meters, both over the allowable wind.

But wind doesn’t matter when you’re on the track right next to each other. Only beating your opponent. 

And if the 100 meters wasn’t enough, Ford and Dickson also have two of the top-five all-conditions 200 meter times this year. More on that race below.

200 meters — Jasmine Montgomery (Texas A&M) vs. Dejanea Oakley

JaMeesia Ford and Camryn Dickson will be candidates to win the 200 meters at the SEC championships, but they’ll have to get past a pair of intriguing contenders first.

Jasmine Montgomery caught the eyes of plenty when she ran a 22.17 to open May in the 200 meters. However, there was a +3.5 wind, and Montgomery hadn’t run better than 22.59 in her career before.

Then there’s Georgia’s Dejanea Oakley. She has the No. 2 wind-legal time in the country at 22.43 seconds, but that time isn’t in the top five all-conditions this year.

Montgomery and Oakley have both run fast this year, conditions aside. When the two meet on the track in Lexington, they’ll be looking to back up their impressive regular seasons en route to a title.

HALFWAY THERE: 6 midseason superlatives for the 2025 DI outdoor track and field season

400 meters — Aaliyah Butler (Georgia) vs. Kaylyn Brown (Arkansas)

Last year, Aaliyah Butler was the top threat to interrupt Arkansas’ historic group of quarter-milers from titles. This year, Butler remains the top threat to keep a Razorback from holding a trophy, but Arkansas doesn’t have the same amount of heavy hitters as last year.

The Razorbacks still have Kaylyn Brown, though, who’s still searching for her first sub-50 race of the season. Could running against Butler, who owns the national lead in 49.44 seconds, push Brown to a sub-50 pace? Will Butler’s undefeated regular season in the 400 continue? 

This is a great matchup to watch.

400 hurdles — Rachel Glenn (Arkansas) vs. Akala Garrett (Texas)

Three women have run sub-54 seconds in the 400 hurdles this season. Rachel Glenn and Akala Garrett are two of the three that are in the SEC. We got to see the sub-54-second race with all three women running at the Tom Jones Invitational.

Glenn outraced Garrett by 0.25 seconds in Gainesville, but anything could happen in Lexington when the two meet again.

THREES A CHARM: Ranking the top 10 sprint-distance-field trios in NCAA track and field

High jump — Rachel Glenn (Arkansas) vs. Elena Kulichenko (Georgia)

Glenn vs. Kulichenko. We’ve seen this battle multiple times on the NCAA championship stage, and we’ll get to see it again at the SEC Championships. When these two compete, the bar just goes higher and higher.

Triple jump — Agur Dwol (Oklahoma) vs. Winny Bii (Texas A&M)

Two of the top triple jumpers in the country will go head-to-head for an SEC title. Agur Dwol is coming off an indoor NCAA title and is the only woman to surpass 14 meters during the outdoor season at 14.01m. Winny Bii matched Dwol’s 14.01 meters during the indoor season.

That’s two women capable of jumping beyond 14 meters, but only one conference title for the taking. 

AWARDS: The 2025 Bowerman Watch List for men’s and women’s NCAA track and field

Heptathlon — Sofia Iakushina (Texas A&M) vs. Pippi Lotta Enok (Oklahoma)

The top two heptathletes entering May are from the SEC and their names are Sofia Iakushina and Pippi Lotta Enok. Yet, the two heptathletes are entering the SEC championships with different perspectives. Iakushina is a freshman competing in her first outdoor SEC championships, while Enok is a former NCAA champion, winning the 2023 heptathlon title. 

It’s a classic tale of the rookie vs. the vet at the SEC Championship.