FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Lady Tiger sophomore and All-America hopeful Kimberlyn Duncan wasted little time in punching her ticket to the NCAA Indoor Championships during Saturday’s finale at the 2011 Tyson Invitational as she cruised to a new lifetime personal best of 23.01 seconds to capture the women’s 200-meter dash title in the day’s first event on the track.
After Oklahoma’s Candyce McGrone opened up the 200-meter dash by winning the first section in 23.01, Duncan followed by winning the fourth section with a matching time of 23.01 as the competitors could only wait for the final results before this year’s Tyson Invitational 200-meter champion was crowned.
With their times needing to be calculated to the thousandths, Duncan’s official time of 23.004 bested that of 23.005 by McGrone by the slimmest of margins as the Lady Tiger sophomore took the event title.
Duncan even dominated her section on Saturday afternoon as Janelle Redhead of South Plains followed in second place in the heat at 23.75 and Auburn All-American Joanna Atkins took third place at 23.80.
“I really was expecting my time to come down in this meet,” Duncan said. “I was nervous coming in here, but I talked to my mom and dad before the race and they helped calm me down and get my mind focused. They just told me to go out there and do what I know how to do and do the best I can. They said to rely on my talent and what I have learned in my training with Coach (Dennis) Shaver and that I would run well.
“It’s just such a different game indoors. You have to think more. You have to make sure to run each curve and each bank and execute the race more. It’s all about keeping your speed up there, turning it over and finishing strong. Outdoors, it’s just all about running the curve and executing the straightaway.”
Duncan, who entered Saturday’s competition with a previous lifetime best of 23.08 set during the outdoor season in 2010 at the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds, now ranks in a tie for the No. 4 spot on the NCAA performance list for the 2011 indoor campaign and in a tie for the No. 8 position on LSU’s all-time indoor performance list as an NCAA automatic qualifier in the women’s 200-meter dash.
A sophomore from Katy, Texas, Duncan has seen steady improvement in her performances so far through the 2011 indoor season as she has set indoor personal records of 7.40, 7.38, 7.32 and 7.30 in the 60 meters and 23.31 and 23.01 in the 200 meters as she now prepares for the NCAA Indoor Championships.
“I want to get it done,” Duncan said. “I am always working to get better. I think I’m more mature in how I go about training and different things this year. That has really helped me improve a lot this season.”
The Tigers and Lady Tigers have now qualified nine entries into the 2011 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships that are scheduled to run March 11-12 in College Station, Texas.
Duncan has joined three other Lady Tigers to qualify as junior Semoy Hackett in the 60 meters (7.24) and 200 meters (22.98), senior Brittani Carter in the high jump (6-1 ½) and freshman Jasmin Stowers in the 60-meter hurdles (8.13) have all secured a spot in the field. The Tigers are led by four NCAA qualifiers in senior Walter Henning in the weight throw (72-7), senior Zedric Thomas (26-6 ¼) and sophomore Damar Forbes (26-3) in the long jump and junior Kyron Blaise in the triple jump (53-4 ½).
LSU’s 4×400-meter relay teams took one step closer to qualifying for the NCAA Championships after the Tigers and Lady Tigers wrapped up the meet with impressive performances in the meet’s finale.
The Lady Tigers were the first to step onto the track as the team of junior Rebecca Alexander, sophomore Latoya McDermott, senior Brittany Hall and junior Jonique Day captured the Tyson Invitational women’s 4×400-meter relay championship with a seasonal-best time of 3 minutes, 34.54 seconds.
Alexander put the Lady Tigers in great position to take the title with a blistering 52.96-second split on the leadoff leg. McDermott (53.92) and Hall (54.97) kept the Lady Tigers in front before Day clinched LSU’s victory with a brilliant 52.70-second split on the anchor leg en route to the No. 4-ranked performance this season, trailing only Texas A&M (3:30.70), Arkansas (3:32.48) and Texas (3:34.12) in the mile relay.
The Tigers were just as impressive in a runner-up finish in the men’s championship 4×400 relay Saturday, while the team of junior Keyth Talley, junior Horatio Williams, junior Riker Hylton and sophomore Caleb Williams recorded the NCAA’s second-fastest time this season at 3:06.56.
Talley opened with a split of 47.33 before giving way to Williams with a 46.74-second split on the second leg and Hylton with a 46.83-second split on the third leg. Caleb Williams then anchored with a big split of 45.66 while finishing runner-up to the foursome from South Plains College (3:05.14).
“This is the time of the season where we expect to get just a little bit better and improve each time that we go out and compete. We certainly did that today,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “I thought both of our relay teams did a great job of competing today. It wasn’t just all about time. You could really see both teams get out there and compete through the race. That’s what you like to see as a coach.
“It’s also important for us because the next time we really get to line it up and compete will be in a couple of weeks when we come back here to Fayetteville for the SEC Championships.”
Two other LSU athletes also enjoyed personal-best performances on the final day of competition Saturday at the Tyson Invitational as junior Tim Landry set a new 16-second personal best in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 8:37.61 and freshman Lynnika Pitts set a new indoor PR of 5-8 in the high jump.
The Tigers and Lady Tigers will have one final opportunity to prepare for the championship season next weekend as they return home to play host to the LSU Twilight to be held Feb. 18 at the Carl Maddox Field House. The teams will then return to the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Ark., again this season in two weeks for the 2011 SEC Indoor Track & Field Championships scheduled for Feb. 25-27.