BATON ROUGE — It’s early in the season, but LSU track and field head coach Pat Henry has to be pleased with what he’s seen so far.
A week after posting 10 NCAA qualifying marks in their season opener, his third-ranked Tigers and third-ranked Lady Tigers looked in midseason form at the LSU Purple Tiger Invitational Saturday at the Carl Maddox Field House.
“We knew coming in that the competition would be significantly better than last week and I think we stepped it up accordingly,” said LSU head coach Pat Henry. “I think we accomplished a great deal today and continued to get better which is important at this point in the season.”
Walter Davis began his quest for the NCAA long jump title that eluded him a year ago, while Muna Lee doubled, winning the 60 and 200-meter titles to highlight a strong outing for both squads.
Davis, the 2000 Olympian, came up with another impressive effort, winning the long jump on the final attempt of the competition. The 2001 SEC champion and NCAA runner-up in the event, Davis struggled with his timing on his early jumps and trailed Marcus Thomas heading into the sixth jump where he came up with an NCAA automatic mark of 26-6 ?.
He had come up with a long foul on his previous attempt, but got his timing down on the sixth jump and delivered a tremendous mark for this early in the season.
Davis’ mark ranks second in the nation this season and adds to the NCAA automatic qualifier he posted in the triple jump last weekend in Fayetteville.
“Walter is an incredible competitor,” added Henry. “He seems to know exactly what he needs and then he goes out and does it. He’s truly a remarkable athlete.”
Both the men’s and women’s teams got off to strong starts, as Mallory McDonald broke the LSU record in the women’s 20-lb. weight throw, while Javier Nieto came up with a strong showing in the men’s 35-lb. weight throw.
McDonald, a freshman from Stowe, Ohio, came up first the first NCAA provisional qualifying mark ever for an LSU woman in the weight throw, posting a mark of 60-2, breaking the LSU record in the event by nearly four feet. Previous school record-holder Candice Gonzalez finished second with a mark of 55-9.
Nieto improved upon his performance of a week ago, picking up the win while improving his NCAA provisional status in the weight throw. The senior won the event with a throw of 64-7, the 13th best mark in the nation, matching his personal best.
The Lady Tiger short sprinters looked sharp for the second straight week, as Lee and Lolo Jones picked up victories.
Lee didn’t get out of the blocks as well as intended in the 60-meter dash final, but picked reeled in the field at the 30-meter mark and edged teammate Stephanie Durst with a winning time of 7.39. Lee’s time was an NCAA provisional mark, as was Durst’s runner-up time of 7.41.
Less than an hour later, Lee returned to the track and won the women’s 200-meter title in an NCAA provisional time of 24.08.
Jones looked sharp in the hurdles and improved her NCAA provisional status with a winning time of 8.30, improving to 2-0 in the short hurdles for the second straight year. Jones got out of the blocks well and quickly seized control of the race, winning by a wide margin.
Ronetta Smith, a fourth place finisher at the NCAA Indoor meet last year in the 400-meter dash, looked good for the second straight week and finished second to defending NCAA champion Allison Beckford of Rice. Smith’s time of 54.88 was a provisional qualifier and just off last week’s time.
The Tigers came up with a 1-2 finish in the 200-meter dash when Robert Parham and Pete Coley grabbed the top two spots with times of 21.59 and 21.72 respectively.
LSU returns to action on next weekend when both squads travel to Lincoln, Neb., for the Adidas Invitational on Friday and Saturday.