GAINESVILLE, Fla. — LSU’s Megan Akre captured the SEC women’s pentathlon crown Friday at the SEC Indoor Championships, single handily placing the Lady Tigers in second place after the first day of competition.
Akre is just the fourth Lady Tiger to win the SEC pentathlon title and the first to do so since Sharon Jakofsky won in 1992. Her point total of 3,971 is a personal best and the fifth best in school history.
Akre’s point total also provisionally qualifies the senior for the NCAA Championships, just missing the automatic mark by 79 points. The mark is also the 11th highest point total in the country this season.
“I just had a really good day,” said Akre. “I can’t get much happier than I am, to be a senior and be the SEC champ is so exciting. It’s been three years, a long three years, of hard work, and its great to see it pay off.”
Akre set season best marks in the 55-meter hurdles (8.08), long jump (17-10 3/4), 800-meter (2:17:96), as well as a personal best in the shot put (33-5 3/4).
Thanks to Akre’s ten first place points, the women trail Georgia by just three points going into tomorrow’s second day of events.
On the men’s side, seniors Darion Powell and Edwin Billot sit in third and fourth place respectively in the heptathlon. Powell (3,087) trails the leader by just 152 points with Billot (2,992) right behind him.
Powell led all competitors in shot pot portion of the event with a throw of 48-10 3/4. Both Powell and Billot crossed the finish line in the 55-meter dash at 6.66, placing them second in that portion of the event.
The competition will continue tomorrow from the Stephen C. O’Connell Center. Field events begin at 10 a.m. and running events follow at 11:00 a.m.