GREENSBORO, N.C. – The LSU track and field teams enjoyed an outstanding day of qualifying during Thursday’s competition at the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds as seven field event athletes finished with top-12 finishes in their events to earn a spot in the semifinal round of the 2010 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships being held in Eugene, Ore., in two weeks.
In addition, a total of 16 LSU student-athletes advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championships that are scheduled to run Friday at Irwin Belk Track on the campus of North Carolina A&T University.
“I thought we just competed very well today,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “Our kids understand that these are the preliminary rounds of the NCAA Championships. If they don’t get the job done at this meet, there will be no trip to Eugene. That’s why it’s important that they come to the track with a mindset to compete and do what they have to do to finish in the top 12 and advance.
“Everybody that we thought would advance did advance today. We couldn’t really ask for much more out of our athletes. That’s the kind of effort we expect each time we come to the track.”
The LSU hammer throwers got the ball rolling for the Tigers in the first event of the meet as junior Walter Henning and sophomore Michael Lauro punched their ticket to Eugene with a pair of top-12 finishes in their specialty. Before passing on his last three attempts, Henning picked up a third-place finish with a top mark of 222 feet 2 inches in the preliminary round. Lauro followed in sixth place with a throw of 211-6.
Senior Josh Dominguez continued the momentum for the Tigers after qualifying for the national semifinal with a ninth-place finish in the men’s pole vault. Dominguez cleared a height of 17-2 ¾ to earn a spot into the NCAA Outdoor Championships for the second time in his career.
The Tigers then put an exclamation point onto the end of the first day of competition as all three entries in the long jump earned a spot in the national semifinal with top-12 finishes.
Freshman Damar Forbes continued his outstanding rookie campaign by earning a third-place finish with a mark of 25-8 on his final jump to punch his ticket to Eugene and compete in the NCAA semifinal for the first time in his career. Junior All-American Zedric Thomas followed in sixth place with a top mark of 25-0 ½, while senior Will Coppage posted a best mark of 24-9 ¼ on his final attempt to move into 11th place.
For the Lady Tigers, junior All-American Brittani Carter was the lone NCAA semifinalist to emerge from Friday’s preliminary rounds as she finished among the Top 12 performers in the women’s high jump. She cleared the bar 5-11 ¼ to earn a spot on LSU’s roster that will make the trip to Eugene in two weeks.
“Our athletes knew what they had to do today to advance, and they just went out there from the beginning and got the job done,” Shaver said. “The goal at this meet is to finish in the top 12 of your event to qualify for Eugene. I thought our athletes did a great job today to put themselves in that kind of position.”
LSU was also outstanding on the track during Thursday’s action at the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds at Irwin Belk Track as the Tigers and Lady Tigers combined for 16 NCAA quarterfinalists on the afternoon.
The Lady Tigers set the pace early in the day with four qualifiers apiece in the first round of both the 100-meter dash and 800-meter run, in addition to a quarterfinalist in the 400-meter hurdles.
After being crowned the SEC champion in her last 400-meter hurdle race at the SEC Outdoor meet a mere two weeks ago, sophomore Cassandra Tate lined up in the first running event of the weekend and eased to the finish line in second place in her heat with the seventh-fastest time of the day at 57.41 seconds.
The Lady Tigers then asserted their dominance in the 100-meter sprint as senior Samantha Henry (11.24), freshman Takeia Pinckney (11.29), junior Kenyanna Wilson (11.39) and senior Kristina Davis (11.49) all advanced from Thursday’s opening round. Henry and Pinckney each won their preliminary heats with the likes of Wilson finishing runner-up and Davis finishing fifth in their respective heats.
The Lady Tigers continued the momentum in their final event of the day by advancing all four 800-meters runners into the quarterfinal round. Senior All-American LaTavia Thomas won the first of six preliminary heats with a time of 2 minutes, 5.66 seconds, while freshman Charlene Lipsey followed in second place in a personal-best time of 2:05.74. Brittany Hall (2:06.32) and Kayann Thompson (2:08.61) also advanced.
The NCAA quarterfinal of the women’s 100-meter dash is set to run at 5:15 p.m. CT on the second day of competition at the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds, while the quarterfinals of the women’s 800-meter run follows at 5:45 p.m. with the quarterfinals of the women’s 400-meter hurdles set for 6:15 p.m. on Friday.
The Tigers were led on the track by a pair of personal-best performances from seniors Armanti Hayes and Jerel Hill as they added seven NCAA quarterfinalists of their own on the afternoon.
Hayes turned in the most impressive performance of any Tiger during Thursday’s competition as he set an impressive personal best of 45.65 to win his first-round heat of the 400-meter dash. Hayes posted the fourth-fastest time of the day to lead a trio of Tigers into the 400-meter quarterfinal. Joining Hayes are the likes of sophomore Robert Simmons (46.19) and freshman Caleb Williams (46.68).
Like Hayes, Hill shattered a personal best en route to the NCAA quarterfinals as he won his prelim heat in the 100-meter dash with a wind-legal PR of 10.26, eclipsing his previous best of 10.34 entering the meet.
The Tigers then wrapped up their day with a trio of 800-meter runners advancing to Friday’s quarterfinals with senior Richard Jones setting the pace with the second-fastest time of the day at 1:48.55. Jones will be joined in the quarterfinal round by freshman Sadiki White (1:49.36) and senior Jamaal James (1:50.15).
On the men’s side, the quarterfinals of the 400-meter dash are slated to run at 4:30 p.m. CDT, followed by the 100-meter quarterfinals at 5 p.m. and the 800-meter quarterfinals at 5:30 p.m.
Friday’s action gets underway for LSU at 9 a.m. CDT with the men’s javelin competition. The first events on the track are scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m. Fans can also follow up-to-the-minute and behind-the scenes coverage of the Tigers and Lady Tigers during the meet by following @LSUTrackField on Twitter and by becoming a fan of the official LSU Track & Field group on Facebook.