TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — LSU’s Chad Radgowski stepped onto the javelin runway for his third throw of the prelims in second place behind Tennessee’s Matt Maloney, but an impressive heave of 239 feet, 8 inches erased any doubt as to who would be crowned SEC champion.
The sophomore from Liberty, Pa., bettered his previous personal best mark by more than three feet at Sam Bailey Stadium on Saturday as he becomes the first Tiger to win an SEC title in the event since former LSU standout Blake Theriot accomplished the feat during the 2000 season.
Radgowski took the early lead in the competition after recording a mark of 229-1 on his second preliminary throw, but Maloney shot to the top of the standings with a new personal best mark of his own at 232-7 on his second attempt of the afternoon.
Radgowski refused to back down as he ended the preliminary round with the nation’s second-best throw this season and the No. 2 mark in the event all-time at LSU. Neither competitor was able to improve his mark in the final round of throws.
“It feels fantastic (to win),” Radgowski said. “I’ve trained well and prepared myself well this year, and it paid off for me today. I just talked with Coach (John) Woosley about what I needed to do and executed my throws well. It really started to come together for me on my first throw.
“When Matt had his first big throw, I knew he could beat me. It was a great battle between the two of us today. I’ve actually thrown against him for a long time growing up in New England. I guess you could say Christmas came a little bit early for me on that third throw.”
Radgowski scored 10 points on the afternoon to help move LSU into sole possession of fifth place heading into the final day of the competition as the Tigers have scored 37 points as a team.
Freshman Preston Chatham and senior Brandon Racca joined Radgowski in contributing to the Tigers’ effort by finishing fifth and seventh, respectively, in the javelin. Chatham posted a throw of 216-3 in his first career appearance at the SEC Outdoor Championships, while Racca finished the afternoon with a mark of 206-5.
Freshman Will Coppage scored six big points for the Tigers after taking third place in the long jump with a new outdoor personal record of 24-11 ? as he was joined in the event by sophomore All-SEC performer Jeremy Hicks, who finished in fifth place with a leap of 24-8 ?.
Freshman Josh Dominguez added five points with a fourth-place finish in the pole vault after clearing a height of 16-6 ? in his first career appearance at the outdoor conference meet.
“We had some really great performances from our men today,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “Chad’s a great competitor, and he definitely showed that today. He fell behind early but took the lead right back on his next throw. It was also important for us to get points from our jumpers and Josh in the pole vault. I was really pleased to see what they did.”
The Lady Tigers have scored a total of 15 points for the meet as they are currently in seventh place in the team standings heading into Sunday’s action, while they are looking for their first outdoor conference championship since the 1996 season.
Junior jumps standout Kathy Coleman earned all-conference honors for the first time in her LSU career as she took second place in the long jump after recording a new outdoor personal best mark of 20-8 on her final jump of the afternoon. Coleman stepped up big for the Lady Tigers as she sat in fourth place heading into her last jump.
“That may be the first time where I’ve seen Kathy improve that much on her last jump of the competition,” Shaver said. “She really came up big for the team with that jump because that’s three extra points we have because of it. We need that kind of effort from our women tomorrow.”
Two-sport star Trindon Holliday proved to be LSU’s top performer on the track on the third day of the competition as he ripped up the straightaway with a wind-legal time of 10.14 seconds to qualify for Sunday’s final in the 100-meter dash with the fastest time of the preliminary round.
The diminutive Holliday just missed breaking the school record of 10.09 set by former LSU great Xavier Carter when he won the NCAA title in the event at the NCAA Championships last season. He now ranks No. 2 on the school’s all-time list and No. 4 in the NCAA this season.
Holliday won his heat with ease as teammate Richard Thompson finished second and qualified automatically for Sunday’s final with an impressive time of his own at 10.32. Thompson qualified with the third-fastest time of the preliminary round.
“I was really motivated coming in after last year when I ran 11.01 in the prelims,” Holliday said. “I wanted to come in and make a name for myself. Coach Shaver has been motivating me, telling me that it’s time to take Xavier’s name off the board. I saved a lot for tomorrow, and I just told Richard that we need to finish it off tomorrow.”
The Tigers saw six other qualifiers in Saturday’s preliminaries, including Siraj Williams (46.27), Melville Rogers (46.40) and Armanti Hayes (46.67) in the 400 meters, Jeffrey Parker (3:51.64) in the 1,500 meters, and Alleyne Lett (13.78) and Ryan Fontenot (14.02) in the 110-meter hurdles.
The Lady Tigers featured eight qualifiers of their own led by Sherry Fletcher (11.39), Brooklynn Morris (11.53) and Samantha Henry (11.68) in the 100; Deonna Lawrence (52.55) and Cynetheia Rooks (52.81) in the 400; and Jessica Ohanaja (13.29), Nickiesha Wilson (13.29) and Angel Boyd (13.36) in the 100 hurdles.
“I don’t see how we could have done anything better today,” Shaver said. “Everybody that should have advanced coming into the meet got through to the final. It was another day where our kids competed very well. The teams have put themselves in a good position to win tomorrow.”
Sunday’s action is scheduled to get underway in the field at 1 p.m. with the women’s discus competition followed by the afternoon’s first running events at 5 p.m. with the final of the men’s 4×100-meter relay. Conference champions will be recognized in an awards ceremony at 8:50 p.m.
SEC Outdoor Championships Results
Saturday at Sam Bailey Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (All race distances in meters)
Men’s
3,000 Steeplechase
1. Barnabas Kirui, Ole Miss, 8:33.59; 2. Augustus Maiyo, Alabama, 8:42.57; 3. Peter Kosgei, Arkansas, 8:48.40; 4. Travis McKay, Mississippi State, 8:53.87; 5. Enoch Nadler, Florida, 8:54.34; 6. Sam Gillespie, Georgia, 8:56.67; 7. Ryder Leary, Florida, 9:01.23; 8. Jeff Day, Tennessee, 9:02.39.
High Jump
1. Donald Thomas, Auburn, 7-6; 2. 2. Tyler Boswell, Alabama, 7-1 ?; 3. Alain Bailey, Arkansas, 6-10 ?; 4. Blake Taylor, Florida, 6-10 ?; 5. Kevin Dickson, Georgia, 6-8 ?; 6. Brent Rosson, Arkansas, 6-8 ?; 7. Alan Cassell, Mississippi State, 6-8 ?; 8. Brenard Wilson, 6-8 ?.
Pole Vault
1. Michael Hogue, Tennessee, 17-1 ?; 2. Andy Lane, Tennessee, 16-10 ?; 3. Dan McKenzie, South Carolina, 16-6 ?; 4. Josh Dominguez, LSU, 16-6 ?; 5. Brad Holtz, Tennessee, 16-6 ?; t6. Justin Semeyn, Florida, 16-2 ?; t6. Chris Helwick, Tennessee, 16-2 ?; 8. Brandon Schneider, Alabama, 15-9.
Long Jump
1. Charles Bailey, Ole Miss, 25-7 ?; 2. Alain Bailey, Arkansas, 25-7 ?; 3. Will Coppage, LSU, 24-11 ?; 4. Justin Gunn, Ole Miss, 24-11; 5. Jeremy Hicks, LSU, 24-8 ?; 6. Wale Odetunde, Ole Miss, 24-3; 7. Mychael Stewart, Arkansas, 24-3; 8. Daniel Quinn, Arkansas, 23-11 ?.
Discus
1. Wes Stockbarger, Florida, 199-5; 2. Cory Martin, Auburn, 184-8; 3. Nate Rolfe, Georgia, 183-11; 4. Jason Dixon, Alabama, 182-10; 5. Gavin Ball, Kentucky, 175-3; 6. Edis Elkasevic, Auburn, 175-0; 7. Steven Boozer, Alabama, 174-3; 8. Tyler Trout, South Carolina, 173-5.
Javelin
1. Chad Radgowski, LSU, 239-8; 2. Matt Maloney, Tennessee, 232-7; 3. Eric Heymann, South Carolina, 223-7; 4. Chris Helwick, Tennessee, 216-4; 5. Preston Chatham, LSU, 216-3; 6. Joe Schroeder, South Carolina, 207-6; 7. Brandon Racca, LSU, 206-5; 8. Kyle Komarek, Arkansas, 200-8.
Women’s
3,000 Steeplechase
1. Sarah Madebach, Georgia, 10:13.73; 2. Lindsay Sundell, Florida, 10:20.58; 3. Caroline Peyton, Arkansas, 10:30.28; 4. Tiffany Redlarczyk, Arkansas, 10:39.58; 5. Megan Jackson, Arkansas, 10:44.57; 6. Megan Carnes, Alabama, 10:46.44; 7. Jackie Areson, Tennessee, 10:46.48; 8. Andrea Halasek, Kentucky, 10:48.06.
Long Jump
1. Brittney Reese, Ole Miss, 21-11 ?; 2. Kathy Coleman, LSU, 20-8; 3. Celriece Law, Tennessee, 20-4 ?; 4. Shaka Dennison, Georgia, 20-3 ?; 5. Michelle Vaughn, Auburn, 20-3 ?; 6. Lynne Layne, Tennessee, 19-11 ?; 7. Brittney James, South Carolina, 19-11; 8. Andrea Linton, LSU, 19-10 ?.
Shot Put
1. Mariam Kevkhishvili, Florida, 55-11 ?; 2. Ashley Muffet, Kentucky, 49-6 ?; 3. Sarah Robles, Alabama, 48-8; 3. Jenny Dahlgren, Georgia, 48-2; 5. Davina Orieukwu, Ole Miss, 47-11 ?; 6. Michelle Rossio, Arkansas, 46-11 ?; 7. Nicola Wilson, Mississippi State, 46-8 ?; 8. Shanna Dickenson, Tennessee, 45-9 ?.