BATON ROUGE — Three NCAA provisional qualifying marks and 14 individual event titles highlighted the season opening Purple Tiger Invitational for the LSU track and field team Saturday at the Carl Maddox Fieldhouse.
“Based on what we were trying to get accomplished at this meet I am very pleased,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “We had a lot of young athletes out there that I think they were a little nervous competing in their first collegiate meet and some even in their first indoor meet. They responded well and I think that was evident in the improvements from the preliminary heats to the finals.”
Not unaccustomed to the collegiate scene was two-time All-American Willie Bradley who started off his senior season on right foot, provisionally qualifying for the NCAA Championships in his signature event, the triple jump. Bradley bettered the nearest competitor by over to feet to win the event title with a mark do 51-1 1/2.
Freshman Ashley Owens did not disappoint in her collegiate debut. The Colorado Springs native handily defeated the field in the 60-meter dash, provisionally qualifying for the NCAA meet with a time of 7.39 seconds. The mark ties her with former Lady Tiger All-American Stephanie Durst for the eighth-best mark inschool history.
Also breaking into the record books in their LSU debut was sophomore Alleyne Lett. Running the 60-meter hurdles for the first time in his career, the transfer from Central Arizona Junior College clocked a provisional mark of 7.88 to take home the meet title. Lett, who will compete in the heptathlon at Arkansas next week, also saw success in the field, jumping a personal best 23-11 3/4 in the long jump.
Also strong in the field were shot putters Katie McKeever and Matt Vincent. McKeever won the meet title with a throw of 50-4 1/2, a mark that was less than two inches shy of the provisional qualifying standard. Vincent won the men’s crown with a distance of 54-2 1/2.
LSU also sweep the meet’s relay titles, taking home gold in both the men’s and women’s 4×400 relays and the distance medley relays.
Brittany Harris, Tanya Osbourne, Sade Nero and Hazelann Regis combined to take home the women’s 4×400 title in 3:43.75. Siraj Williams, Reginald Dardar,Pete Coley and Justin Callis won gold in the men’s race at 3:15.74.
In the DMR, the Lady Tiger foursome of Neisha Bernard-Thomas, Meisue Francis, Osbourne and Ruth Nanyinza won with a time of 11:51.38. Jeffrey Fisher, Justin Callis, Michael Hendry and Patrick Gavin clocked 10:17.25 to win the men’s crown.
Also finding success in the distance events were junior Patrick Gavin and freshman Rachael Graham. Gavin won the men’s mile in 4:11.53, while Graham took top honors in the 5,000 meters with a time of 18:50.73.
Other events winners included senior RaNysha LeBlanc in the 60-meter hurdles (8.53), Dianne Harrison in the high jump (5-8 3/4) and Calah Young in the pole vault (11-5 3/4).
The Tigers and Lady Tigers will return to action next weekend when they travel to Fayetteville for the Arkansas Invitational, Jan. 21-22.