BATON ROUGE- The LSU track and field team opened its 2000 season Saturday afternoon looking very much in mid-season form with an impressive outing at the LSU Purple Tiger at the Field House.
The Tigers and Lady Tigers combined to register two NCAA automatic qualifying marks and six provisional marks despite not using full squads on either side.
“This was a good indication of where most of our athletes are right now,” said LSU head coach Pat Henry. “This was a nice way to open things up, we had some tremendous performances today and this tells me that a bulk of my team is in shape right now.”
Leading the way for LSU were a pair of NCAA automatic qualifiers from Keisha Spencer and Russ Buller.
Spencer moved to No. 2 on the all-time LSU triple jump list with an eye-popping, personal best 45 foot 10 inch effort to win the title. The jump was also the second best in the history of the Field House.
Teammate Bianca Rockett nearly joined Spencer with an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships, but instead had to settle for a high provisional mark, with a 42-11+, an indoor personal best.
Buller opened the 2000 season the same way he did a year ago, clearing 18-0 + and winning the men’s pole vault title with ease. Buller then raised the bar to 18-4 + in an effort to break the Field House record and take over the world lead in the event, but failed to negotiate the height despite two close efforts.
Joyce Bates opened defense of her NCAA 60-meter hurdle title in fine fashion with a victory in the short hurdles. Bates blew past the field in an NCAA provisional time of 8.25 seconds.
LSU had a tremendous day in the field. In addition to the accomplishments of Spencer, Buller and Rockett, Monique Freeman all but assured herself of a trip to Fayetteville for the NCAA Championships with a 20-8 + effort that just missed the automatic standard in the women’s long jump, but easily won the event.
Marcus Thomas finished third in the triple jump, but came up with an indoor PR and NCAA provisional mark of 52-8 +.
In addition to Bates, Greg Scott and Sa’Donna Thornton picked up provisional qualifiers on the track. Scott finished second in the 60-meter hurdles in a time of 8.00, but ran his provisional time of 7.85 in winning his preliminary heat.
Thornton tied for the title in the women’s 60-meters with a time of 7.43, but ran a faster 7.38 in registering the fastest preliminary time.
LSU also got wins from Susanne Strunz in the mile, Amanda Whitlock in the high jump, and the women’s 4×400-meter relay.
Both the men’s and women’s teams return to action on Friday at the SEC Quadrangular at Fayetteville, Ark., against Ole Miss, Vanderbilt and Arkansas.