BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s and women’s track and field teams continue to strengthen their postseason squads as they qualified 19 new entries into the regional meet on Saturday at the LSU Tiger Classic at the Bernie Moore Track Stadium.
The Tigers and Lady Tigers have now combined to qualify a total of 32 athletes and four relay teams into the NCAA Mideast Regional Championships as they are set to compete in 42 different events at the postseason meet, which will be held in Columbia, Mo., from May 25-26.
It proved to be an important day for both squads as many of LSU’s athletes turned in outstanding performances in their outdoor season debut in such events as the 200 and 400-meter dashes, the 400-meter hurdles and both the long jump and triple jump.
“It was another really good day for the men and the women,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “We had a lot of people open up and run the 200 and 400 for the first time this season, and I was really pleased with what we did in those events. I don’t know if we’ve ever run this fast in those particular events this early in the season.”
Junior Kelly Baptiste secured her spot on the Lady Tigers’ regional squad after clocking the nation’s fastest time in the 200-meter dash en route to taking top honors in the event with a time of 22.95 seconds. This marks the fastest wind-legal time Baptiste has recorded in her outdoor debut in the event during her three-year career at LSU.
Not to be outdone by her teammate was sophomore hurdles standout Nickiesha Wilson, who clocked the fastest 400-meter hurdle time in the nation with a 46.99 in her collegiate debut in the event. The transfer from Oklahoma Baptist University also moves into the No. 4 spot on the school’s all-time outdoor list with her performance.
Wilson also ran the lead leg on the foursome that clocked the top time in the nation in the 1,600-meter relay as she teamed with freshman LaTavia Thomas, junior Cynetheia Rooks and junior Deonna Lawrence to carry the stick around the track in an impressive 3 minutes, 32.80 seconds.
“That was really a great performance by Nickiesha in her first 400-hurdle race of the season, Shaver said. “It really surprised me in her first race because I expected her to run about a 57.5 or something like that. She’s going to be a key for us this year with what she can do in that event.”
The men’s and women’s 4×100-meter relay teams kicked off the action on the track with a pair of impressive performances that featured the season debut of sophomore two-sport standout Trindon Holliday, who missed the entire indoor season while practicing with the LSU football team.
Holliday ran the lead leg as he teamed with freshman Will Coppage, sophomore Jeremy Hicks and junior Richard Thompson to improve the foursome’s already established regional qualifying time with a 40.06 on Saturday. The Tigers clocked a 40.60 in their season debut in the event at the LSU Tiger Relays last weekend.
The Lady Tiger foursome of junior Sherry Fletcher, freshman Samantha Henry, junior Brooklynn Morris and Baptiste qualified for the regional meet for the first time this season after carrying the baton around the track in a time of 43.73 after missing the final exchange and not finishing the race a week ago.
“The sprint relays really did a great job today with the limited practice time we’ve had this week, particularly with the men,” Shaver said. “We were guessing a little bit with Trindon Holliday and Will Coppage running the first two legs and were just hoping to get the stick around the track.”
Baptiste is just one of four Lady Tigers who will compete in the 200 at the regional meet as Morris (23.11), Fletcher (23.16) and Henry (23.19) each secured their spot in the regional field on Saturday. In addition, Fletcher and Henry also posted new personal best times in the event in their outdoor debut for the Lady Tigers.
A trio of Lady Tigers also bettered the regional mark in the open quarter prior to running the 4×400 relay as Rooks crossed the finish line in 52.73 followed by Lawrence in second place with a time of 52.80 and Thomas in third with a regional qualifying time of her own at 53.76.
The Lady Tigers also saw senior Tanya Osbourne post a regional qualifying time in the 800-meter run as the New York native crossed the finish line in 2:09.24, while freshman Kristina Davis also qualified for the first time this season in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.73.
On the men’s side, Thompson (21.04) and freshman Armanti Hayes (21.16) clocked regional qualifying times in the 200-meter sprint, while senior Siraj Williams is set to compete in the open quarter at the regional meet after crossing the finish line in 46.76. Junior Isa Phillips also punched his ticket in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 50.84 on Saturday.
In addition, the squads combined for four first-time regional qualifiers in the field events, including junior Andrea Linton in the triple jump with a mark of 42 feet, 1 ? inches, Hicks in the long jump with a leap of 24-8 ?, and Coppage (24-1) and fellow freshman Kim Williams (182-9) in the long jump and hammer throw, respectively.
A number of athletes also improved their already existing regional qualifying marks led by freshman Katelyn Rodrigue‘s school record setting performance in the pole vault competition as the New Orleans native cleared a height of 12-9 ? to set a new outdoor personal best in the event.
Angel Boyd clocked a new personal record in the 100-meter hurdles with a wind-legal time of 13.23, while Ryan Fontenot posted a new PR of his own in the 110 hurdles after clocking a time of 14.09 in a runner-up finish on Saturday. Monique Cabral (11.62) improved her standing in the 100 meters with Anna Lyons (146-9) also posting an improved mark in the javelin.
The Tigers and Lady Tigers will hit the road for the first time during the outdoor season next weekend as they travel to Austin, Texas, to compete in the prestigious Texas Relays beginning Thursday at Mike A. Myers Stadium. This year’s event will be the 80th edition of one of the nation’s premier collegiate track meets.