AUSTIN, Texas ? Two-sport standout Trindon Holliday made his outdoor season debut in the 100-meter dash at the Texas Relays on Friday and advanced to Saturday’s final in the event with an NCAA regional qualifying time of 10.35 seconds at Mike A. Myers Stadium.
Holliday, who sat out the indoor season while participating in spring drills with the LSU football team, qualified for the event finals in the fourth position with his wind-aided time as he is now set to compete at the NCAA Mideast Regional for the first time in his career.
The Zachary, La., native also ran the leadoff leg on the men’s 4×100-meter relay team that qualified for Saturday’s final with a time of 40.40 in the prelims. Holliday teamed with freshman Will Coppage, senior Marvin Stevenson and junior Richard Thompson to post the third-fastest time in four preliminary heats.
“Trindon is excited about the opportunity to run, and he went out today and got something done,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “He’s also a tremendous addition to our sprint relay. I don’t believe that with him leading off there will be another team in the country ahead of us when Will Coppage gets the stick.”
This marks the first time this season that Shaver has elected to run Holliday, Coppage, Stevenson and Thompson on the same 400-meter relay team. He said that while the foursome ran a clean race in their debut, there are still improvements that need to be made as they move forward.
“It was nice to get those four together for the first time,” Shaver said. “There are still some things we need to clean up. We need Richard Thompson to run a little bit better as our anchor, and we’re putting him in that position because we believe he is capable of filling that role for us.”
The Lady Tigers also added a pair of entries into the regional meet as senior Shaunette Davidson cleared a height of 5 feet, 8 ? inches to finish seventh in the high jump and junior Kathy Coleman posted a wind-aided mark of 41-2 ? to take fifth place in the women’s triple jump.
A number of LSU athletes also improved their already established NCAA regional qualifying marks in the field events in Friday’s action led by a pair of outstanding performances by Chad Radgowski and Brandon Racca in Section B of the men’s javelin competition.
Radgowski set a new personal best in the event with an impressive throw of 229-9 to take first place and move into the No. 5 spot on the school’s all-time performance list, while Racca finished second after recording a new personal best mark of his own with a throw of 220-8. Racca posted the eighth best throw in school history on Friday.
Sophomore Jeremy Hicks also improved his regional qualifying mark in the long jump with a leap of 24-9 ? to take fourth in the event, while Coppage followed in eighth place after improving his seasonal best mark to 24-1 ?. Coleman took fifth place in the women’s long jump with a seasonal best wind-legal distance of 19-11 ?.
“There’s something to be said about the consistency our jumpers are showing in executing their jumps right now,” Shaver said. “We just need them to take their performance to another level and develop some consistency with some better marks. That’s what we’re going to need when we get into the championship season.”
The women’s squad also qualified four athletes into the finals of their respective specialty events as juniors Jessica Ohanaja and Angel Boyd advanced to the finals in the 100-meter hurdles, while junior Kelly Baptiste and senior Sherry Fletcher are set to compete for the event title in the 100-meter dash on Saturday.
Ohanaja just missed setting a seasonal best as she crossed the finish line with the meet’s top preliminary time at 13.23 followed by Boyd in fifth place with a 13.54. Baptiste qualified sixth in the women’s 100 meters with a preliminary time of 11.45, while Fletcher made the cut in eighth position with a time of 11.48.
“I’m really pleased with the effort Jessica gave today in running the fastest prelim time in the hurdles,” Shaver said. “I also think this is the first time Angel has qualified for the final at this meet, so that’s a big deal for two girls from Texas. They should be fired up when they line up tomorrow.”
The Lady Tigers also advanced well in the sprint relays by clocking the fastest preliminary time in both the 4×100 and 4×400-meter relays as they enter the final day of the competition as the title favorite in each event.
The women’s 400-meter relay team is looking to win its 10th title all-time at the Texas Relays as the foursome of Fletcher, freshman Samantha Henry, junior Brooklynn Morris and Baptiste carried the stick around the track in a time of 44.19 in Friday’s preliminary round.
In addition, the women’s 1,600-meter relay team hopes to win its fourth title all-time at one of the nation’s premier collegiate outdoor meets as sophomore Nickiesha Wilson, sophomore Carliesa Meakes, junior Cynetheia Rooks and junior Deonna Lawrence combined for a preliminary time of 3 minutes, 33.82 seconds.
The final day of the Texas Relays is scheduled to get underway Saturday at 11 a.m. with the men’s high jump and women’s javelin followed by the afternoon’s first running event at 12:15 p.m. with the final heat of the women’s 400-meter hurdles. The final of the men’s 400 hurdles will follow at 12:25 p.m.