BATON ROUGE — LSU’s Megan Akre started out the weekend’s competition with a first place finish, taking home the women’s pentathlon crown at the LSU Bayou Bengal Invitational Thursday, being held at the Carl Maddox Field House.
Akre nipped Ashley Reyer from Southern Miss by 17 points, turning in a point total of 3,596; just falling short of the NCAA provisional qualifying mark.
“It’s nice to open up doing well,” said Akre. “Every meet gets you ready for the next one. If anything, this is going to help get me ready for the pentathlon in Gainesville, Fla., (the SEC Championships).”
The other Lady Tigers in the event brought home highlights of their own. Sophomore Kathy Coleman took second place in the long jump portion of the event, leaping to 17-11 ?. Coleman also finished right behind Akre in the 60-meter hurdle, giving LSU a sweep of the event.
Junior Julie Bertrand took second place in the shot put with a throw of 34-11 ?, a new personal best in the event. Bertrand took third place in the competition’s final event of the night, finishing behind Akre in the 800-meter run.
On the men’s side, Tiger Darion Powell is off to a strong start in the men’s heptathlon. Powell leads the competition by 22 points over fellow Tiger Edwin Billot after four events.
Powell won the long jump competition with a jump of 23-02. The senior also won the shot put portion with a throw of 48-03 ?.
Billot, not to be outdone, collected a first place finish of his own, clearing 6-07 to win the high jump portion. The Texas native also collected second place finishes in both the 60-meter dash and the long jump.
Competition concludes tomorrow for the men during the second day of the Bayou Bengal, as well as the meet’s other events. Events will begin at 1 p.m. at the Carl Maddox Field House, located on LSU’s campus.