AUSTIN, Texas — Lady Tiger All-American sprinter Muna Lee dominated the preliminary rounds of the short sprints, while the LSU men’s and women’s track and field teams combined to win three events on day one of competition at the Longhorn Invitational at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin, Texas.
“We got things rolling today and had a lot of great efforts,” said LSU head coach Pat Henry. “Muna looked great in both sprints and to win three events when you’ve got seven ranked teams on hand is a good indication. We advanced well on both sides and have put ourselves in position to have another productive day tomorrow.”
Lee, a freshman from Kansas City, Mo., opened her day by running a slightly wind-aided NCAA automatic time of 11.21 seconds to win her heat of the 100-meter dash, matching the fastest time in the nation in 2001. Lee advanced to Saturday’s final, as did teammate Sa’Donna Thornton who ran a season-best NCAA provisional time of 11.38.
In a match-up of two of the top three ranked 200-meter sprinters in the nation, Lee won round one with Aleah Williams of Texas, posting a time of 23.08. The wind of 4.2 meters per second exceeds the NCAA limit of 4.0, therefore not making it eligible for NCAA qualifying purposes. Williams finished second with a time of 23.15 setting the stage for another showdown in Saturday’s final.
Myra Combs and Stephanie Durst, who ran under a legal wind in the first section of the women’s 200-meter prelims, both advanced to Saturday’s final with NCAA provisional qualifiers. Combs won the heat in a time of 23.24 while Durst finished second with a time of 23.60.
LSU picked up three individual titles despite few finals being contested on Friday evening. Walter Davis won the men’s long jump with a modest effort of 24 feet 5 inches, while teammate Traun Smith finished second with a mark of 24-1 3/4.
Chenelle Marshall won the women’s long jump with a mark of 20-1 1/2, while Myra Combs finished fourth with a jump of 19-9 1/2.
On the track, Likhaya Dayile won the men’s 5,000-meter run with a time of 14:52.34. Dayile endured a slow early pace and cruised to an easy victory.
Bridget Cusack finished third in the women’s 5,000-meter run. Elsewhere on the track, freshman Lolo Jones blazed through the prelims of the 100-meter hurdles en route to the fastest qualifying time of the day.
The All-American ran a high NCAA provisional time of 13.17 with a slight wind to grab the top seed for Saturday’s final. Zamyal Jackson finished fourth in the same heat with a time of 13.52, the first NCAA provisional time of her young career.
Greg Scott advanced to Saturday’s final in the men’s 110-meter hurdles, finishing second in his heat with a time of 14.70.
Both teams looked sharp in the quarter, as the Tigers placed three athletes in the final while the Lady Tigers sent two. Lueroy Colquhoun recorded the fastest qualifying time of the day on the men’s side, running 47.13, while Robert Parham won his heat and registered the second fastest time of the day, 47.51. Peter Simon advanced as well with a time of 49.01.
On the women’s side, NCAA 400-meter leader Ronetta Smith won her heat with ease, clocking a time of 53.28, while Stephanie Butler grabbed the final qualifying spot with a time of 58.13.
In the field, Javier Nieto came up with a second place finish in the men’s hammer with a throw of 199 feet 2 inches.
The Longhorn Invitational concludes on Saturday with all sprint and relay finals, as well as selected distance and field events.