COLLEGE STATION, Texas — LSU senior Jeremy Hicks had the NCAA long jump title in his grasp heading into the sixth and final round of jumps Friday at the 2009 NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships after taking the lead with a new personal-best mark of 26 feet, 3 ? inches on his fifth jump of the competition.
The Houston native was locked in a battle with Nebraska star Nicholas Gordon as the two traded blows throughout Friday’s competition at the Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium.
After Gordon took over the top spot with an impressive jump of 25-10 ? on his very first attempt, Hicks made his presence felt with a then personal-best mark of 25-10 on his third jump to move into second place. Hicks then fouled his fourth jump before leaping over Gordon into first with an overall personal best of 26-3 ? on his fifth attempt.
But Hicks fell just two centimeters short of claiming his first career NCAA crown as Gordon won the event title in dramatic fashion at 26-4 ? in the final round of jumps. Hicks finished second.
Hicks is LSU’s highest finisher in the long jump at the NCAA Championships since former Tiger great and Olympic silver medalist John Moffitt swept NCAA Indoor and Outdoor titles in the event during the 2004 season. This also marks his second career individual All-America honor in the long jump after finishing seventh in the event at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in 2007.
“I felt pretty good when I hit that jump to take the lead,” Hicks said. “I was just happy to get eight meters for the first time. There is no better time to get a PR than at the NCAA Championships. I was hoping for the win, and I tried to put one out there on my last jump to seal it. Unfortunately, I fouled and he (Nicholas Gordon) won it with a great jump. That was a great performance.
“I don’t have any hard feelings because he deserved it as much as I did. We competed against one another very well. It was definitely a great experience for me to be in that position.”
LSU continued to shine in the jumps as sophomore Brittani Carter enjoyed the performance of a lifetime on Friday night as she became the first LSU Lady Tiger in 22 years to receive indoor All-America honors in the high jump with a personal-best clearance of 6-0.
Carter breezed through the competition with clearances of 5-7, 5-8 ?, 5-10 ? and 6-0 on her very first attempt at each height. She then earned her first career All-America honor with a third-place finish following three consecutive misses with the high jump bar resting at 6-1 ?.
Not only did Carter become the first Lady Tiger to earn indoor All-America recognition since the 1987 season when former LSU standout Kym Carter accomplished the feat, but she is also the first woman at LSU to clear the 6-0 barrier since Gretchen Francois did so indoors in 1998. Carter now ranks in sole possession of fourth place on LSU’s all-time indoor performance list.
The Lady Tigers were not done there as junior sprinter Samantha Henry also earned All-America honors on the first day of the meet with a seventh-place finish in the 200-meter dash.
Henry, who qualified for the final with the seventh-fastest preliminary time at 23.42 seconds, had her fourth individual All-America performance as a Lady Tiger and her sixth overall following an impressive run of 23.34 in the first of two championship heats in LSU’s final event on the track.
Not only that, but Henry also qualified for the final of the 60-meter dash to be run Saturday with a time of 7.26 to finish second in her heat and fifth overall the qualifying round.
Both the Tigers and Lady Tigers scored eight points on the first day of competition as the men are currently in a tie for ninth place in the team standings with the women finishing the day in 13th.
“I thought our kids competed extremely well for us today,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “You always come to this meet and hope that they can perform at the same level that they’ve had all year long, and we had some people going above and beyond tonight. It means a lot to our team for them to go out there and compete the way they did and score some points for the team.”
The Tigers and Lady Tigers also enjoyed a successful day of qualifying on Friday as four athletes advanced to NCAA finals to be run Saturday at the Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium.
Freshman standout Robert Simmons showed just why he is an NCAA championship contender in the men’s 400-meter dash after clocking the fastest preliminary time in the field at 46.63.
Simmons, who won the SEC Indoor title two weeks with an overall personal best of 46.22, is the first LSU Tiger to qualify for the 400-meter final at the NCAA Indoor Championships since 2006 when former Tiger star Xavier Carter was crowned the NCAA Indoor champion in the event with a school-record time of 45.28 at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Ark.
Simmons, a native of Missouri City, Texas, returns to his home state where he established himself as one of the nation’s top 400-meter recruits as a high school senior last year, finishing his career with a then overall personal-best time of 46.40 set during the 2007 outdoor season.
“The strongest part of my race is the finish, and I wanted to make my move at about 220 meters or so. Tomorrow, I’m going to have to get out faster and stay close to the pack the first 200 since everybody is going to be running to win,” Simmons said. “I have a lot of family and friends here watching me, so that gives me some extra motivation to go out there and run fast.”
Junior Trindon Holliday will join Simmons on the final day of competition after clocking the No. 2 preliminary time in the 60-meter dash with a new seasonal best of 6.55.
Holliday is in position to win his first career individual NCAA title after finishing as the national runner-up in the 60-meter dash to teammate Richard Thompson a year ago. He will battle Jacoby Ford of Clemson, who clocked the fastest prelim time of the day at 6.51.
Henry is not the only Lady Tiger who qualified during Friday’s preliminary action as sophomore Kenyanna Wilson advanced to the 60-meter final and junior LaTavia Thomas qualified for the 800-meter final and will have a chance to defend her NCAA Indoor crown.
Wilson won the first of three preliminary heats of the 60 meters with a personal best time of 7.24 to move into the No. 6 spot on the school’s all-time indoor performance list in the event.
“I thought we did a very good job of competing today and many of our athletes put themselves in a position to compete again tomorrow,” Shaver said. “We always look at this as two different track meets. The first one is now over with, and now we have to refocus and get ready to compete well again tomorrow. We look forward to another exciting day for both teams.”
Saturday’s action at the 2009 NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships will kick off at noon with the conclusion of the men’s heptathlon followed by the day’s first field events at 3:30 p.m. and the first events on the track at 5 p.m. This year’s NCAA Indoor team champion will be honored in an award’s ceremony scheduled for 7:50 p.m.