FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Sa’Donna Thornton picked up a convincing win in the women’s 55-meter dash, while Paul Gardner won the first title of his career, claiming the men’s 35-lb. weight throw, leading LSU at the SEC Quadrangular in Fayetteville, Ark., Friday night.
LSU only competed with 14 athletes on each side in an effort to save some of its athletes for important competitions in Baton Rouge on Jan. 29 and in Gainesville, Fla., on Feb. 6.
The SEC Quadrangular was supposed to be held at the new $3 million Randall Tyson Track Center, the site of this year’s SEC and NCAA Indoor Championships, but was not completed in time, thus forcing LSU head coach Pat Henry to change his approach to the meet. Instead the meet was held at the Arkansas Track and Tennis Center, a facility with tights curves and not conducive to yielding qualifying times.
“We got about what we expected out of this meet,” said Henry. “When this meet was scheduled, we thought it would be an opportunity to run at a premier track and field facility. There’s just not a whole lot you can get done on this track, but we still had some people step up and perform well tonight.”
Thornton won the women’s short sprint for the second consecutive week, blazing to an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 6.91 seconds. Teammate Jemia Ellis finished second in a personal best time of 6.98.
LSU did not use a single jumper on Friday evening, but the throwers performed well when given the spotlight.
Gardner, a sophomore thrower, picked up the men’s 35-lb. weight throw with a personal best effort of 54 feet six inches.
Christian Nehme placed second in the men’s shot put with a season-best effort of 58-11 1/2, finishing behind New Iberia, La., native Marcus Clavelle, an All-American for Arkansas who came up with an NCAA provisional toss of 60-1 3/4.
Angela Jones finished second in the women’s 20-lb. weight throw with a throw of 51-8 1/2, then finished third in the shot put behind teammate Jill Lipp, who came up with a 44-9 3/4 effort for second place.
On the track, April Sams finished second in the 55-meter hurdles with a time of 7.93, just off her lifetime best. Gonzales native Greg Scott finished third in the men’s 55-meter hurdles with a time of 7.48.
In the distance events, Frans Schimper finished second in the mile with a respectable 4:18.85. Brent Martin finished fourth in the 800-meter run in a season-best time of 1:54.48.
LSU returns to action next Saturday, hosting the LSU Invitational at the Carl Maddox Field House. Field Events will get undeway at 1 p.m. with track events starting at 3:30 p.m.