FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Walter Davis overcame an inconsistent outing and pulled out a second place finish in the men’s long jump, leading the LSU track and field team on day one of the NCAA Indoor Championships at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Ark.
With Davis’ runner-up finish and tomorrow’s scoring potential, the Tigers find themselves on a very short list of teams that will compete for the men’s title tomorrow.
At the same time, the Lady Tigers did well in certain areas, but struggled overall on the day, and have only three scoring chances to add to their point total on Saturday.
The Tigers sit in 15th place with eight points after the first day of competition, but have most of their scoring opportunities tomorrow, while the Lady Tigers are tied for 19th place with six points. Alabama leads the men’s competition with 21 points, while UCLA seized control of the women’s race with 22 1/2 points on the first day of action.
“On the men’s side we pretty much did what we expected today,” said LSU head coach Pat Henry. “We could have done one or two things better, but overall, we had a nice day. On the ladies side, we struggled at times and didn’t advance some people we thought we would.
“I can’t say enough about the way Walter (Davis) competed today. He didn’t have his best day but he fought through it and scraped out a second place finish and those are the kinds of efforts you need at this meet.”
Davis struggled throughout, but saved his best for the most critical stage of the event. Davis barely made the final, jumping 24-11 1/4 in the preliminary rounds, and grabbed the ninth and final qualifying spot for the final.
After foul attempts on his fourth and fifth attempts, Davis struck gold on his final attempt, moving from ninth place to second with a jump of 26-3 1/2, matching his second best mark of the season.
“I just dug down deep on that last attempt,” said Davis. “I just missed two big ones on my fourth and fifth attempts but I was going for broke on the last one and was able to salvage something.”
Davis’ finish is the highest by a Tiger in the event since Mike Alridge placed second in 1996. Savante Stringfellow of Ole Miss won the event with a jump of 26-6 1/4.
LSU’s Marcus Thomas, a fourth place finisher a year ago, came up with a disappointing outing and fouled on all three attempts in the preliminary rounds.
Muna Lee entered the NCAA Indoor Championships leading the nation in the 200-meter dash and finished fifth, running a time of 23.51 in the finals. Lee advanced to the final after winning her preliminary heat in a time of 23.54.
The Lady Tigers entered this weekend with a pair of solid threats to challenge for the 60-meter title but came up short in the preliminary rounds on Friday.
SEC 60-meter champion Sa’Donna Thornton lost out on a spot in the final on a tiebreaker for the second time in her career, losing out on the eighth and final spot when broken down to the thousandth of a second. Thornton finished second in her heat in a time of 7.37, but was edged in a tiebreaker by Brianna Glenn of Arizona who ran an identical time in an earlier heat.
Before placing fifth in the 200-meter final, Lee narrowly missed a spot in the 60-meter final, running a time of 7.38 in her preliminary heat, finishing one spot behind Thornton.
Lolo Jones became LSU’s first freshman All-American in the short hurldes since Tananjalyn Stanley in 1987, finishing seventh in the women’s 60 meter hurdles in a time of 8.32.
Jones advanced to the final with a preliminary time of 8.28, just off her personal best time. It marked the 16th straight year that LSU yielded an All-American in the short hurdles, a streak that started in 1986.
Alleyne Francique looked sharp in the men’s 400-meter dash, winning his heat and advancing to Saturday’s final in the event. Francique led from start to finish and clocked a time of 46.31, the third fastest qualifying time on the day.
Teammate Lueroy Colquhoun was not as fortunate, however. Last year’s fourth place finisher in the event, Colquhoun finished fourth in his heat, running a time of 47.30 and missed advancing to the final.
Ronetta Smith advanced to the women’s 400-meter dash final with an impressive 53.13, the fourth fastest time of the day. Teammate Myra Combs did not advance, however, finishing 13th in the preliminary rounds with a time of 54.50.
The Lady Tigers entered this weekend with a pair of solid threats to challenge for the 60-meter title but came up short in the preliminary rounds on Friday.
SEC 60-meter champion Sa’Donna Thornton lost out on a spot in the final on a tiebreaker for the second time in her career, losing out on the eighth and final spot when broken down to the thousandth of a second. Thornton finished second in her heat in a time of 7.37, but was edged in a tiebreaker by Brianna Glenn of Arizona who ran an identical time in an earlier heat.
Muna Lee finished two spots out of the final, running a time of 7.38 in her preliminary heat.
The Lady Tigers struggled in the field as well on Friday, as neither Myra Combs or Chenelle Marshall were able to make it to the long jump final. Combs finished one spot out of the final with a jump of 20-6 1/2, while Marshall finished 14th with a mark of 19-6.
LSU returns to action tomorrow with Francique and Smith in the 400 meter finals and on both 4×400-meter relays. Davis and Thomas compete in the men’s triple jump, while Bianca Rockett looks to pick up some points for the Lady Tigers in the women’s triple jump.