BATON ROUGE — The LSU track and field season started off with a bang Saturday as six athletes clocked NCAA provisional qualifying times and 10 posted indoor personal bests at the Purple Tiger Indoor Track and Field Classic at the Carl Maddox Fieldhouse.
“This was really an outstanding first meet for our athletes,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “Any time you have your first indoor meet of the season and so people are turning in personal best performances when they were already quite good, it’s a sign of great things to come. I’m just really pleased with how we came out and competed tonight.”
Junior Jessica Ohanaja, sophomore Nickiesha Wilson and senior Angel Boyd stole the show for the Lady Tigers as each posted provisional qualifying marks by finishing 1-2-3 in the finals of the 60-meter hurdles. Ohanaja narrowly edged Wilson for the event title as the duo crossed the finish line in a sizzling 8.17 and 8.18 seconds, respectively.
Ohanaja now ranks sixth on the school’s all-time indoor performance list with her effort, while Wilson follows closely behind in a tie for seventh from her performance in her LSU debut. Boyd also clocked a personal best by crossing the finish line in 8.33 seconds to finish the event in third place.
“The women’s hurdles group really stood out tonight with three big-time personal bests, and I don’t know that we’ve ever had anybody open up the season running 8.17 and 8.18 since I’ve been here,” Shaver said. “They’re definitely on the right track with what they’re doing this early in the season. It’s just exciting to see these kinds of performances this early in the season.”
Junior All-American Kelly Baptiste started her season off on the right foot by taking first place in the 60-meter dash with a provisional qualifying time of 7.30, while junior Sherry Fletcher finished the event in third place by qualifying provisionally with a personal-best time of 7.44.
Junior distance standout Erin Vandivort clinched the Lady Tigers’ first event title of the meet by clocking the 10th fastest time in school history with a 19:14.07 in the 5,000 meters. Vandivort finished the race approximately 58 seconds ahead of her nearest competitor in just the first indoor 5k run of her LSU career.
Meanwhile, fellow junior distance runner Kate Accardo set a new PR of her own and the 10th fastest indoor time in school history by finishing in fourth place in the 3,000 meters after stopping the clock in 10:18.03.
Shaver said he was also pleased with the Lady Tigers’ effort in the field events highlighted by sophomore Andrea Linton‘s win in the women’s triple jump and freshman Katelyn Rodrigue‘s indoor school record in the pole vault. Linton opened the season with a leap of 40-11 ? in her specialty event, while Rodrigue now ranks No. 1 on the all-time list with a vault of 11-11 ?.
“For us to be a contender for an NCAA title, we have to be able to score in more than one event area,” Shaver said. “They know how important that is, and it’s good to see that these women are working hard to make that kind of a contribution to this team. This was certainly a much better opening meet for our women’s team than we had last year.”
Junior Richard Thompson paced the men’s effort in the sprints by clocking a PR and provisional qualifying time of 6.72 seconds to finish second in the 60 meters. Thompson improves upon his previous best effort of 6.73 and moves into a tie for third place on the school’s all-time list with former football standout and current New Orleans Saints wide receiver Devery Henderson.
“Richard is one of the purest short sprinters that we’ve had here at LSU in the 13 years that I’ve been here,” Shaver said. “He’s developed each year he’s been here, and I’m really challenging him this year because he has the potential to do some great things for us. Kelly Willie set the school record last year, and I believe that Richard can really make a run at something like that.”
Juniors Ryan Fontenot and Jeff Adolph each took second place in their respective specialty events during the meet, while sophomore Phillip Malcolm shattered his previous indoor personal best to finish third in his event.
Fontenot clocked the second-fastest time of his LSU career with a 8.07 in the finals of the 60-meter hurdles, and Adolph improved his previous best in the 800 meters by less than one second after crossing the finish line in 1:58.93. Malcolm improved upon his previous best effort in the high jump by leaping 6-10 ? to take third place in the event.
“Ryan didn’t run a personal best, but he really impressed me with what he was able to do in the hurdles,” Shaver said. “He showed a lot of progress by opening up in the hurdles with the second fastest time of his career. I was also extremely happy with what Phillip did in the high jump. That’s a consistent scoring performance at the SEC meet and was great to see from him.
“The men are a little bit like the women were last year at this point in the season,” Shaver said. “They’re sorting through and trying to figure out their role and how each of them fit in with this team. We have an outstanding men’s team, but we will have to be able to perform in more than one event area unlike last year.”
The Tigers and Lady Tigers are set to travel to Albuquerque, N.M., on Friday to compete in the two-day Modrall Sperling Lobo Invitational at the Albuquerque Convention Center. The first day of competition is slated to begin Friday at 7 p.m. CST with Saturday’s action scheduled to get underway at 11 a.m.