BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s and women’s track and field teams enjoyed a successful first day of competition at the LSU Tiger Relays on Friday as a total of 14 athletes punched their ticket to the NCAA Mideast Regional Championships in their outdoor season debut.
The Lady Tigers, who earned a runner-up finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships just two weeks ago, kicked off the outdoor season by qualifying 11 athletes for the regional meet, while the Tigers were led by three regional qualifiers of their own.
“We really capitalized on our chances (to qualify) because we didn’t have many more than that today,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “It’s just good to see everybody getting out on the track and competing in their first outdoor meet. We had a good day today overall, and we’re looking forward to another great day tomorrow.”
LSU’s outstanding hurdles trio of junior Jessica Ohanaja, sophomore Nickiesha Wilson and junior Angel Boyd got the ball rolling for the Lady Tigers by taking the top three spots in the preliminary round of the 100-meter hurdles to advance to Saturday’s final heat.
Ohanaja, who was the national runner-up in the 60-meter hurdles during the indoor season, clocked a regional qualifying time of 13.46 seconds to finish atop the preliminary standings, while Wilson finished just a split-second behind with a time of 13.54 in her collegiate debut in the event. Boyd also bested the regional standard after crossing the finish line in 13.69.
Junior Kelly Baptiste ? a nine-time All-American during her already illustrious career at LSU ? will lead a contingent of four Lady Tigers at the NCAA Mideast Regional Championships as she qualified in the 100-meter dash alongside senior Sherry Fletcher, junior Brooklynn Morris and freshman Samantha Henry.
Baptiste is the favorite to win the event title on Saturday after clocking the fastest time in the prelims with a 11.39 followed by Fletcher’s time of 11.52 in her preliminary heat. Henry crossed the finish line in a time of 11.58, while Morris took fourth place in the prelims with a 11.64.
The Lady Tigers also saw a trio of field-event standouts post regional qualifying marks in their respective specialty event led by freshman Katelyn Rodrigue‘s school-record performance in the women’s pole vault competition. Rodrigue, who also holds the school’s best indoor mark, cleared 12 feet, 5 ? inches to break the old mark of 11-11 ? set by Calah Young in 2005.
Sophomores Amanda Harmata and Anna Lyons also posted regional qualifying marks in the javelin with throws of 150-9 and 145-4, respectively. In addition, junior Kathy Coleman qualified for the regional meet in the long jump with a distance of 19-9, while freshman Kim Williams just missed qualifying with a new personal best and winning effort of 174-8 in the hammer throw.”
“That was really a great effort from our women because it just takes a while to get into a groove,” Shaver said. “They were outstanding in some of the events like the 100 and the hurdles, and even what happened for us in the javelin was tremendous. Amanda is taking three steps and throwing it right now because of a sore shoulder, so that just tells you what kind of competitor she is.”
The Tigers were not to be outdone by their Lady Tiger counterparts as sprint All-American Richard Thompson and hurdles standouts Alleyne Lett and Ryan Fontenot secured their spots on LSU’s regional team in their respective specialty events.
Thompson, who set a new school record in the 60-meter dash at the SEC Indoor Championships in February, qualified for the regional meet in the 100 meters after clocking a preliminary time of 10.47, while Lett and Fontenot will lead the Tigers’ effort in the 110-meter hurdles after advancing to Saturday’s final with times of 13.81 and 14.18, respectively.
Lett was the national runner-up in the 60-meter hurdles at the NCAA meet in Fayetteville, Ark., two weeks ago as he earned his first career indoor All-America honor by breaking former LSU standout Bert Rareshide’s 11-year-old school record in the event with a time of 7.70 in the finals.
A pair of Tiger freshmen just missed posting qualifying marks of their own as Adam Wilcox took top honors in the shot put with a new overall personal best throw of 54-6 ?, while Chris Bless posted a personal record of his own with a throw of 163-10 to finish first in the hammer throw.
“We had a few guys that really stood out today and will continue to improve as we move forward this season,” Shaver said. “That’s really what it’s all about ? getting a little something done each time out and pick up some better performances along the way for the regional list. We’d also like to add a person or two on top of that.”
These 14 athletes join sophomore Chad Radgowski and freshman Preston Chatham to give LSU a total of 16 regional qualifiers after two weeks of the outdoor season. Radgowski finished second in the javelin at the Louisiana Classics last weekend with a personal best throw of 224-1, while Chatham took third in the event with a throw of 217-8.
The final day of the LSU Tiger Relays is slated to get underway on Saturday at 11 a.m. with the beginning of the men’s pole vault competition. The afternoon’s first running events are scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m. followed by the meet’s opening ceremonies at approximately 1:57 p.m.