FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — LSU’s men’s and women’s track teams opened the 2003 season with dual second-place finishes at the SEC West Challenge held at the Randal Tyson Track Center Saturday.
Host Arkansas swept both the men’s and women’s titles as the Lady’Backs scored 193 points and the Razorbacks tallied 151.33 points. The Lady Tigers posted 146.6 points to finish in second ahead of Ole Miss (69.39) and Mississippi State (65). The LSU men finished with 97.33 points to edge out Mississippi State (93.33), Alabama (83), and Ole Miss (49).
Individually the Lady Tigers dominated the field claiming a meet-best eight first-place finishes. LSU swept the short sprints as Lolo Jones won the 60-meter title in 7.39, Muna Lee took first in the 200 meters (23.45) and Nadia Davy topped the 400 meter field (54.23).
Ranysha LeBlanc and Tiffany Robinson were impressive in the 60-meter hurdles finishing first and third, respectively, with times of 8.38 and 8.65.
In the field events, transfer Katie McKeever won two individual titles of her own taking first in both the shot put (46-4 3/4) and the weight throw (54-4 1/2). Nicole Toney dominated in her specialty, the triple jump, recording a distance of 41-2 1/2 to take first, while Shontae Harris won gold in the high jump clearing 5-6.
In the relay events, the Lady Tiger squad finished first in the distance medley relay turning in a time of 11:37.36, while the 4×400-meter relay team just missed a first-place finish of their own, taking second to Arkansas (3:41.22) with a 3:41.68 clocking.
The Tigers were equally successful in the season’s first outing claiming six individual event titles. Newcomers John Moffitt and LeJuan Smith swept the horizontal jumps as Moffitt took home top honors in the long jump (25-6) and Smith won the triple jump crown (53-9 1/4).
In other field event action, Daniel Trosclair finished first in the pole vault clearing 17-4 1/2, while Joe Lochridge outdistanced the nearest competitor in the shot put by over five feet with his toss of 59-2 3/4.
On the track Robert Parham had a solid day, winning the 200 meters in 20.91 and finishing fifth in the 60 meters with a 6.75 clocking.
The Tigers final event title came in the 4×400-meter relay where LSU posted a time of 3:06.54 to top the field.
The LSU track and field team returns to Baton Rouge this week to open its home schedule, Jan. 25, with the Purple Tiger Invitational.