BATON ROUGE — The LSU track and field team had a strong day at the Bayou Bengal Invitational Friday at the Carl Maddox Field House. Sophomore Tina Harris lead the Tigers as she would finish first the women’s long jump with a career best and NCAA automatic qualifying mark of 21-1 1/2, which ties her for the fourth longest jump in school history.
“Tina had such a great fall, and I know that she has wanted to jump that far the last couple weeks,” said LSU track and field head coach Dennis Shaver. “The bottom line is that I think she was too tired to do it. She got a little bit of rest this week and this is a good place to jump, and she took advantage of that. I think that is the key.”
Karmen Payne finished third in the women’s long jump with a mark of 19-7. Harris also finished second in the women’s triple jump with a seasonal best mark of 40-4 3/4. Freshman Ashley Owens cruised in the finals of the women’s 60-meter dash finishing first with a provisional time of 7.42. Kelly Ann Baptiste finished in a tie for second with a time of 7.51, while Brooklyn Morris finished fourth (7.52).
“The main thing we are looking for is consistency in what we are asking them to do,” said Shaver. “It is not so much about the times. I always say the times will eventually come if you just focus on that. Tonight I think they were relaxed a bit more. They have wanted to do so well, but it takes a while to get where they settle down. I think tonight it was more evident that they are more in control from start to finish.”
Kelly Willie set a school record in the men’s 60-meters in the preliminaries with a personal best time of 6.69. Willie (6.74) and Xavier Carter (6.77) would go on to finish 1-2 the 60-meter dash. Angel Boyd won the women’s 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.47 beating out Doria Appleberry of Louisiana Tech by one one-hundredth of a second.
“Kelly did a great job tonight,” said Shaver. “I think it was a great performance for Kelly and Xavier. I think it was great for Xavier, because he is really showing some consistency now. Even though the time wasn’t really fast I thought his starts were actually better, and of course that not being his best event I think he is fairly confident about getting in the? blocks and running the 200-meters next week. Certainly that is his special event.”
Willie Bradley finished third in the men’s triple jump with a provisional mark of 51-7 1/4, his seasonal best. In the women’s high jump, Shontae Harris finished first with a personal best jump of 5-8 3/4 tying her for tenth place all-time with Dianne Harrison and Sharon Jaklofsky. Calah Young finished first in the women’s pole vault with a seasonal best mark of 11-6 1/2.
Sade Nero and Brittany Harris combined to finish 1-2 in the women’s 200-meters. Nero finished with a time of 25.32, while Harris finished in 25.45. In the men’s 400-meters Austin Benton finished first with a seasonal best time of 8.47. Ryan Fontenot finished third in the men’s 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.15.
Senior Katie McKeever finished first in the women’s shot put for the third straight week with a throw of 50-6. Matt Vincent finished second in the men’s shot put with a throw of 56-6.
Rabun Fox tied Vincent for second in the men’s weight throw with a mark of 54-3 1/4. Phillip Malcolm finished in a tie for second in the men’s high jump with a jump of 6-2 3/4.
Jimmy Wiggins and Nick Accardo finished 1-2 in the men’s mile. Wiggins won the event with a time of 4:20.02, while Accardo had a time of 4:23.42. In the women’s mile, Katie Dawson (5:12.92), Megan Kliebert (5:13.74) and Katie Denton (5:13.80) finished 2-3-4. Rachel Graham finished second in the 3000-meters with a time of 10:49.65.
The Tigers continue action next week as they will travel to New York, N.Y. to compete in the New York Armory Invitational February 4-5.