GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The LSU track and field team continued to shine through the early stages of the season, as the men’s and women’s teams combined to register 10 NCAA qualifying marks at the Gator Invitational Saturday afternoon, the first major test of the indoor season.
“I’m extremely pleased with what I saw today,” said LSU head coach Pat Henry. “With as many newcomers as we have, to respond the way that we did, I can’t say enough about their effort.
“We traveled 47 athletes to this meet and for 23 it was their first time in this kind of environment and they responded with some truly incredible performances.”
Heading the list of top performers for LSU was freshman Muna Lee who sent a message to the rest of the NCAA with a convincing victory in the 200-meter dash and a runner-up finish in the 55. Lee blew away the 200-meter field with an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 23.44 seconds, the fastest time in the nation so far this season and the fourth fastest time in the world.
To put Lee’s time in perspective, two-time NCAA 200-meter champion Peta-Gaye Dowdie, a 19-time All-American who graduated from LSU last season, never ran faster than 23.89 indoors in her freshman season of 1997.
The time is the fastest ever by an LSU freshman. Lee also finished second in the 55-meter dash with an NCAA provisional time of 6.87 that moved her up the national leaders list in the short sprint as well.
“For a freshman to run a 200-meter time like that is pretty incredible,” added Henry. “It goes to show what kind of tremendous potential she has as an athlete, this is only the third meet of her career.”
Ronetta Smith continued to improve in the 400-meter dash and won the event with a provisional time of 54.29, edging former Texas All-American Donna Howard who ran a time of 54.34 to finish second. Smith also anchored the Lady Tigers’ mile relay to a fourth place finish to conclude the competition.
Freshman Lolo Jones, who had picked up victories in each of her first two weeks, continued to look sharp in the short hurdles. Jones finished third on Saturday, but improved her NCAA provisional status with a time of 7.78.
The Tigers had their share of top performances on the day as well. Walter Davis opened his LSU career last weekend by breaking the school record in the triple jump. Saturday he continued his assault on the LSU record books, posting the third-best long jump in LSU history.
In a match-up that will dominate the SEC and NCAA meets all season long, Davis finished second in the long jump to fellow Olympian Savante Stringfellow of Ole Miss. Stringfellow won the event with a jump of 27-0, while Davis managed an NCAA automatic qualifying mark of 26-3 1/2. Teammate Marcus Thomas finished fourth with an NCAA provisional jump of 25-0 1/2.
In one of the most highly-anticipated events of the day, LSU newcomer Alleyne Francique finished fourth in the men’s 400-meter dash, but registered the first provisional mark of his career, running a time of 47.24 and defeating NCAA Outdoor champion Avard Moncur of Auburn in the process. Lueroy Colquhoun finished two spots back in sixth place in 47.66, just off the provisional standard.
Francique and Colquhoun then joined with freshmen Pedro Tunon and Robert Parham to finish third in the mile relay and record an NCAA provisional time of 3:09.76, finishing just behind Baylor and Auburn.
Other top performances by Tigers on Saturday included a second place finish by Javier Nieto in the 35-lb. weight throw, as the junior came up with an NCAA provisional qualifying mark of 62-6, while Likhaya Davyile finished fourth in the 3,000-meter run in a time of 8:23.55.
LSU returns to action on Friday when both teams travel to the Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark., a two-day Golden Spikes event which will be televised by ESPN on a tape-delayed basis.