NEW YORK — The LSU track and field team finished up strong on the second day of the Armory Invitational at the New Balance Tack and Field Center in New York City Saturday as the women’s team finished first and the men’s team finished second. Freshman Xavier Carter broke the school record and the meet record in the men’s 200-meter championships with an automatic time of 20.67.
“With Xavier being able to run his first 200-meters and set a school record, I think that is about enough said about that,” said LSU track and field head coach Dennis Shaver. “That is just a fabulous performance, and he is a very talented guy.”
Carter’s time is the second fastest time in the nation this year in the 200-meters. Kelly Willie was fourth in the men’s 200-meters as he ran a seasonal best and provisional time of 21.16. Jimmy Wiggins ran a personal best time of 14:18.18 in the men’s 5000-meters. Wiggin’s time is the fourth best time in school history.
“I was please because I didn’t think I was going to run that kind of time this early in the season,” said Carter. “That just shows me that I am stronger than I was last year. With a little bit more practice I should be able to bring the time down.”
Carter broke the record of Justin Gatlin of Tennessee, who was a medallist in the 2004 Olympics in Greece this past summer. Carter set the high school record last year in the high school 200-meters when he ran a time of 20.69. Carter was also named the Men’s Collegiate Athlete of the meet.
“Your looking at Gatlin, an Olympic gold medallist, it says something,” said Shaver. “Xavier is special in a lot of ways. I think there is definitely room for him to improve. At our level it comes.”
In the men’s 4×400-meter relay, Pete Coley, Xavier Carter, Bennie Brazell and Kelly Willie combined to finish first with a provisional time of 3:07.73. The combination came three tenths of a second away from breaking the meet record set by LSU last year.
“We had an awful lot of personal performances,” said Shaver. “Jimmy Wiggins in the 5,000 ran about 50 seconds faster. This is the first year that Jimmy has been healthy for the entire season, and not been sick or had an injury. That is a tremendous improvement for him to jump up to fourth on our all-time list.”
Willie Bradley won the men’s triple jump with a provisional jump of 52-1 3/4. Bradley won on his last jump of the day as he passed up Michael Roberts who had a jump of 52-1 1/4.
“There are just so many positive things that happened here,” said Shaver. “For our young athletes, even if they didn’t do as well this is a learning process for them. They understand that everyone has got to be on top of their game on the same day if we are going to end up doing real well as a team in the meets that count.”
Chris Jackson finished second in the consolation finals of the men’s 60-meter hurdles with a personal best tying time of 8.07. Jackson’s time equals his seventh best time in school history that he ran last year. In the men’s 60-meter dash consolation finals, Richard Thompson finished second with a time of 6.83. Both Jackson and Thompson were two hundredths of a second off of the first place time.
“This is one of those meets that we have seen both the men and the women’s team really start to pull together and support one another,” said Shaver. “It the first time some of the athletes have gotten on the track in their specialty event, and I think that is something everyone is looking forward to including me.”
For the Lady Tigers, Hazelann Regis won the women’s 400-meters with an automatic and meet record time of 51.62. The time is the fastest time in the nation so far this year breaking her previous meet record, and was only three tenths of a second off of the school record time she set last year. Regis was also named the Female Collegiate Athlete of the meet.
“My aim today was to come out and break my own record,” said Regis. “Once I did that I knew I was on the right track and that I am ready for nationals.”
“Hazelann setting a new record here in this meet, a record she set last year, just gives you an indication of how good she is,” said Shaver. “The competition was not as great this year for her. This year she came out here and did it all on her own. I think that is just a part of her maturity that is taking place.”
Brooklyn Morris, Neisha Bernard-Thomas, Deonna Lawrence and Hazelann combined to break the meet record in the women’s 4×400-meter relay with an automatic qualifying time of 3:31.92. The time was only a second behind the school record of 3:30.14 set last year. Bernard-Thomas also won the women’s 800-meters with an automatic and season-best time of 2:05.09.
Senior Katie McKeever threw a season-best and provisional mark of 51-11 to win the women’s shot put. McKeever won the competition on her last throw of the day as she beat out Kasey Onwuchekwa of Texas A&M. The mark was only two inches off of her personal best 52-1 that she threw back in 2003.
“Katie McKeever last year on her last throw would think it would come, but it never did,” said Shaver. “But now she is throwing real close to her personal best mid-season on her last throw. Also Matt Vincent in the shot put had a personal best. I think definitely in the throwing event we are making some real consistent improvements with the entire group.”
The LSU Track and Field team will be back in action next weekend, as they will go on the road to Nampa, Idaho for the Holiday Inn Team Invitational, Feb. 11-12.