BATON ROUGE — The LSU Track and Field team played host to the LSU Last Ditch at the Carl Maddox Field House Friday evening as a final opportunity for athletes to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships.
The Lady Tigers were looking to improve qualifying marks for All-Americans Myra Combs and April Sams, while the men were attempting to get weight thrower Javier Nieto into the national field.
Combs put together a season-best jump of 20 feet 8 inches in the long jump moving her into the top 13. Combs is already a qualifier in the 400-meter dash and is on the Lady Tigers’ 4 x 400-meter relay.
Despite solid performances, Sams and Nieto were unable to improve their season marks. Sams posted a time of 8.53 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles, while Nieto posted a throw of 61-11 in the weight throw.
“For Myra (Combs) to jump as well as she did is very good,” head coach Pat Henry said. “Javier threw the way he has been throwing all season long, but just couldn’t get it better tonight. We also had a lot of young people get a little bit better tonight.”
Freshman Lolo Jones, already an NCAA qualifier, also ran well capturing the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.32 seconds.
The NCAA Indoor Championships will be held on March 9-10 at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Ark. Last year the Lady Tigers finished fourth while the Tigers finished seventh.