GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Five NCAA automatic qualifying marks by the LSU track and field team highlighted a stellar day of competition for the Tigers at the Gator Invitational Sunday.
“Anytime you can have five automatic marks and another 10 or so provisional times you have to be happy with the days performance,” said LSU head track and field coach Pat Henry. “We did some good things today and with the exception of Robert Parham we came out of the meet very healthy. I feel we are where we need to be at this point in the season and I think we have put ourselves in a good position heading into the Armory Invitational meet next weekend.”
Junior Lolo Jones started the Lady Tigers off with a win in the 55-meter hurdles, clocking an NCAA automatic time of 7.60 seconds to hold off the field, while fellow junior John Moffitt began the Tigers’ day with a win in the long jump competition. Moffitt’s distance of 25-10 3/4 secures him a spot at the NCAA Indoor Championships in the event and currently ranks as the nation’s best long jump mark this season.
Junior Muna Lee continued her dominance in the short sprints, topping the field in the 55-meter dash with an NCAA automatic time of 6.73. Her time was also a Gator Invitational record, improving upon the 6.74 mark set by Florida’s Anita Howard in 1990.
In the women’s 400 meters, junior Hazelann Regis brought home gold posting an NCAA automatic mark of 53.51, to improve upon her previous season-best effort by nearly a full second. Her time ranks as the fifth fastest in the nation this season and was enough to knock off runner-up Demetria Washington (53.63) of South Carolina who entered the meet with the nation’s top time in the event. Also in 400 meters, junior Nadia Davy improved upon her season best to record an NCAA provisional time of 53.99 to place fifth overall.
Running the open quarter for the first time this season, All-American Pete Coley finished fourth among a talented field of competition with an NCAA provisional time of 47.00. Freshman Kelly Willie also posted a provisional qualifying mark in the event, clocking 47.25 to place seventh overall.
Marian Burnett, the defending national champion in the indoor 800 meters, will officially be back to defend her title this season. The senior posted an impressive NCAA automatic mark of 2:04.97 to take home top honors in the event. Her time also ranks No. 1 in the country as it topped the previous nation-leading time of 2:06.86 (Treniere Clement, Georgetown) by nearly two full seconds. Also in the 800 meters, junior Neisha Bernard-Thomas and Althea Thomas turned in times of 2:07.67 and 2:09.32, respectively, to finish third and sixth overall and provisionally qualify for the NCAA Championships.
The foursome of Davy, Burnett, Bernard-Thomas and Regis just missed an automatic mark in the 4×400-meter relay, clocking 3:37.13 to miss the automatic standard of 3:37.00 by just .13 seconds.
Also posting an NCAA provisional mark was junior LaToya Payne in the long jump. Her distance of 20-4 1/2 was a season-best effort and good enough for a second-place finish.
LSU returns to the track next weekend when it travels to New York for the prestigious Armory Invitational, Feb. 14-15.