FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Entering Friday’s competition at the Tyson Invitational, LSU freshman Robert Simmons had only run two 400-meter races indoors at the collegiate level while setting a personal best of 47.79 seconds in his debut at the SEC/Big 12 Challenge two weeks ago.
But Simmons looked like a seasoned veteran at the Randal Tyson Track Center as he shattered his personal best with a blistering two-lap time of 46.55 to take third place in the event on Friday.
Simmons, a freshman from Missouri City, Texas, set the third-fastest time in the NCAA this year as he finished only behind the world-leading time of 46.18 by Georgia freshman Torrin Lawrence in the second heat and the time of 46.50 set by Terrance Reid competing unattached.
Not only has Simmons set a strong NCAA provisional qualifying performance to put himself in a position to compete at the NCAA Indoor Championships in his rookie season with the Tigers, but he has also put his name alongside the best quartermilers in the world during this indoor season as his time of 46.55 ranks No. 7 among all performances worldwide in 2009.
And for a program that has built a tradition of producing many of the premier quartermilers in the history of collegiate track and field, Simmons now ranks No. 8 on LSU’s all-time list in the event.
“Robert ran a great race today, and that just shows the kind of talent he has at such a young age,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “More importantly, I thought he showed that he will get in there and compete. That’s exactly what we’re looking for from our team this year as we prepare for the championship meets. It was good to see that from a freshman.”
Simmons was not the only 400-meter runner to shine for the Tigers during Friday’s action. Junior Armanti Hayes also clocked his first NCAA provisional qualifying time of the season with a new indoor personal best of 46.93 to finish second behind Lawrence in his heat and sixth overall.
The Lady Tigers added a pair of NCAA provisional qualifiers of their own with sophomore Kenyanna Wilson setting a new personal best of 7.37 to take third place in the 60-meter dash and junior LaTavia Thomas clocking a season best of 54.13 in her secondary event in the 400 meters.
Thomas, the reigning NCAA Indoor champion at 800 meters, is currently the NCAA leader in the half mile with an automatic qualifying time and indoor personal best of 2 minutes, 4.54 seconds.
“Like Robert, I thought Armanti ran a good 400-meter race and did well to set a personal best. It is the same with Kenyanna in the 60 meters,” Shaver said. “That was one of our goals coming into this meet. We wanted to see if our athletes could start to show some consistency and improve on their individual performances as we head into the postseason. We definitely saw that today.”
While LSU added four NCAA provisional qualifiers to its postseason roster on the first day of the Tyson Invitational, four other athletes set personal bests in their respective events.
Senior Jacob Simmons and sophomore Alan Sticker kicked off the day for the Tigers by setting a pair of personal bests in the mile run. Sticker was the fifth-place finisher with a time of 4:08.55, while Simmons set a personal best by seven seconds with a time of 4:21.10. In addition, freshman Barrett Nugent was the Tigers’ lone qualifier for Saturday’s final in the 60-meter hurdles with the fourth-fastest preliminary time and a personal best of 7.93.
For the Lady Tigers, junior Kim Williams eclipsed her personal best in the weight throw by more than two feet, placing fifth in the event with the fourth-best throw in program history at 58-5 ?.
The action at the Tyson Invitational continues Saturday morning as LSU will compete for the first time in the field events at 11 a.m. CT followed by the first event on the track at 11:10 a.m. The meet is set to wrap up at 4:30 p.m. with the running of the men’s 4×400-meter relay.