GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Event wins by both John Moffitt and Daniel Trosclair propelled the LSU men’s track team into second place in the team standings after two days of competition at the SEC Indoor Championships Saturday. The Lady Tigers sit in 10th place in the team standings and have qualified 13 athletes into final day competition.
Moffitt’s meet-winning distance of 26-6 1/4 in the long jump blew by the competition, as runner-up Leevan Sands of Auburn posted a distance of just 25-8. Moffitt’s NCAA automatic jump was a season-best effort by nearly eight inches and currently ranks as the nation’s top mark in the event.
Trosclair cleared a personal-best 17-6 1/2 in the pole vault for the second straight meet to take home first-place honors on the event. Trosclair’s finish marks his first SEC title and his third time garnering all-conference accolades in the event.
Also scoring for the men’s team was junior Joe Lochridge in the shot put. Lochridge registered a throw of 57-1 1/2 to place sixth.
In the running events, the Lady Tigers dominated the preliminary rounds. LSU qualified four athletes into the 55-meter hurdle finals as defending SEC champion Lolo Jones lead the Lady Tiger pack, clocking 7.69 to finish second in the prelim standings. RaNysha LeBlanc qualified to the finals with the field’s fourth fastest time, 7.75, while Zamyal Jackson was fifth (7.78) and Tiffany Robinson came in seventh (7.88).
Sprinter Muna Lee took care of business in the the short sprint prelims, clocking a meet-best time of 23.23 in the 200 meters, in additional to running the 55 meters in 6.86. Auburn’s Elva Goulbourne was the only athlete to better Lee’s mark as she posted the top qualifying time in the event, 6.76.
Other Lady Tigers advancing in the sports sprints included Jones in the 55-meter dash (6.90) and Stephanie Durst (23.82) and Monique Hall (23.94) in the 200 meters.
The LSU women also qualified two athletes into the finals of the 400 meters as Hazelann Regis finished second to South Carolina’s Lashinda Demus (53.88) in the prelims with a time of 53.90 and Nadia Davy squeaked into tomorrow’s competition with her ninth place finish (55.05).
Defending national champion in the indoor 800 meters, senior Marian Burnett easily topped the field in the prelims of the event with a time of 2:05.27.
Junior Neisha Bernard-Thomas advancde as well, posting the meet’s second-best time, 2:08.79.
The men’s 800 meter prelims saw junior Jeffrey Fisher register a season-best 1:49.98 effort to finish first and advance to tomorrow’s final.
Also advancing on the men’s side was freshman Kelly Willie in the 400 meters. Willie recorded a time of 47.44 to finish fifth. 2002 SEC runner-up in the open quarter, Pete Coley, failed to move onto the final round of competition, clocking a time of 49.09 to place 14th.
Action from the SEC Indoor Championships will conclude tomorrow as field events kick off at 10 a.m. and running events follow at 1 p.m.
Men
1. Arkansas, 38
2. LSU, 27.5
3. South Carolina, 27.5
3. Auburn, 27.5
5. Florida, 21.5
6. Tennessee, 20
7. Kentucky, 14
8. Georgia, 12
9. Mississippi State, 3,
10. Tennessee, 2.5
11. Ole Miss, 1
Women
1. Arkansas, 35
2. South Carolina, 34
3. Georgia, 25
3. Florida, 25
5. Auburn, 13
6. Mississippi State, 8
7. Kentucky, 7
8. Vanderbilt, 5
9. Alabama, 2
10. Ole Miss, 1
10. LSU, 1