FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Senior Brittani Carter and freshman Jen Clayton each captured SEC Indoor event titles to lead a quartet of LSU jumpers earning All-SEC honors during Saturday’s competition at the 2010 SEC Indoor Track & Field Championships being held at the Randal Tyson Track Center.
With their performance, the Lady Tigers trail only Tennessee (36) in the team standings after scoring their 29 points during Saturday’s action. The Tigers scored 30 points of their own to end the day behind only Florida (41) and Arkansas (39) in the race for this year’s SEC Indoor team championship.
LSU is certainly in position to contend for both team titles in Sunday’s championship finale as the women will have 23 scoring opportunities and the men will have 17 scoring opportunities on their side.
“So many times in the past I’ve talked about how great of a day we’ve had to start a championship meet,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “This is about as good a day as I can remember us having here at the SEC Indoor Championships. I’m just extremely proud of the way both of our teams competed today.
“Our women have gotten off to a great start thanks to some big wins by Brittani Carter and Jen Clayton in their events, and then with some others stepping up and scoring some points for our team. I think both our teams also did very well in qualifying on the track to at least put us in a position to compete tomorrow.”
While making her SEC Championships debut for the Lady Tigers, Clayton became LSU’s first SEC event champion of this year’s meet with her victory in the women’s long jump.
Clayton posted a top mark of 20 feet, 3 ½ inches on her first jump of the afternoon and never looked back, becoming the first Lady Tiger to be crowned the SEC Indoor champion in the long jump in 12 years since Monique Freeman in 1999. Shantel Thompson of Arkansas finished runner-up at 19-10 ¾.
“Coming in, I just wanted to do what I knew I could do to score big points for the team,” Clayton said. “It is all about place at a meet like this. It wasn’t as far as I would have liked to jump, but in the end I’m very happy to score the 10 points. I’m proud of me and my teammates for coming out and performing this well today. We did what we needed to do to get the team off to a good start.”
The Lady Tigers certainly got off to a fast start by scoring a total of 19 points in the long jump with senior Melissa Ogbourne following Clayton in fourth place with a seasonal-best mark of 19-9 ½ and freshman Lynnika Pitts finishing in fifth place with a new seasonal-best and personal-best mark of 19-6 ¾.
Carter followed Clayton’s performance in the long jump by winning an SEC Indoor title of her own in the high jump as she successfully defended the crown she won as a junior during the 2010 season. Carter took over first place with a second-attempt clearance at 6-0 ¾ to defeat Alabama All-American Krystle Schade for the crown. While each cleared the bar at 6-0 ¾, Carter was crowned champion on fewer misses.
With her victory, Carter now holds the distinction of being the only Lady Tiger in program history to take back-to-back women’s high jump titles at the SEC Indoor Championships.
“I don’t think I had one of my best performances today. I do not think my focus was where it needed to be coming in,” Carter said. “That’s one of the most intense competitions I’ve been a part of in my career. It’s great to come here in my last SEC Indoor meet and defend my title. That’s what I wanted and I got it.”
The Tigers also featured a pair of All-SEC performers in the jumps during Saturday’s action at the Randal Tyson Track Center as junior Marcus McGehee established a new lifetime personal best in the men’s pole vault and sophomore Damar Forbes matched his lifetime best in the men’s long jump. The duo teamed for 16 points with a pair of second-place finishes on Saturday afternoon.
After clearing 16-11 ½ on his second attempt and 17-3 ½ on his first attempt, McGehee cleared 17-7 ¼ on his second attempt to secure his first career all-conference accolade. Tennessee’s Joe Berry took home the title of SEC Indoor champion after clearing 17-7 ½ with fewer misses overall in the competition.
Not only did McGehee break his previous lifetime PR of 17-5 to earn All-SEC honors, he put himself in a position for an NCAA Championships berth as he is now the 10th-ranked performer in the NCAA.
The Tigers actually cleaned up with 17 total points in the men’s pole vault as both senior Josh Dominguez and sophomore Joseph Caraway tied one another for fourth place overall to add nine points to McGehee’s eight points in the competition. Each cleared 16-11 ½ to finish in a tie for fourth place.
Like McGehee, Forbes picked up his first career All-SEC accolade and scored eight points for LSU with a dramatic second-place finish in the men’s long jump while matching his lifetime personal best.
After sitting in third place heading into the final round of jumps with a mark of 25-11 ½, Forbes equaled a PR with a jump of 26-3 on his sixth and final attempt of the competition to overtake Florida standout Will Claye (26-0 ¾) for second place overall. Tarik Batchelor of Arkansas set a new season’s best of 26-5 ¾ in his third jump of the competition to capture the SEC Indoor crown in the men’s long jump.
Senior Zedric Thomas, who entered the event with the No. 2-ranked performance in the NCAA at 26-6 ¼, added five points for the Tigers with a fourth-place finish after jumping 25-4 ½ on his third attempt.
Saturday also proved to be a crucial day of qualifying on the track for LSU’s hopes of contending for both the men’s and women’s team championships during Sunday’s finale, and the Tigers and Lady Tigers were impressive as they combined for a total of 23 qualifiers into championship finals.
The most stunning performance of evening came from the Lady Tiger 200-meter runners as junior Semoy Hackett, junior Rebecca Alexander and sophomore Kimberlyn Duncan were the three fastest qualifiers for the finals with three of the NCAA’s leading performances of the 2011 indoor season.
While running together in the first prelim heat, Hackett posted an NCAA-leading time and new indoor PR of 22.86 seconds to outlast the NCAA’s third-fastest time and lifetime PR of 22.96 run by Alexander. The duo now ranks among the all-time greats to ever run the indoor 200 meters for the Lady Tigers as Hackett is No. 5 and Alexander is No. 7 on LSU’s all-time indoor performance list in the event.
Duncan also qualified for the final of the 200-meter dash with the third-fastest time of the day at 23.16 for the winning time in the second of seven preliminary heats during Saturday’s action.
If that were not enough, each also qualified for the SEC Indoor championship final in a second event with both Hackett (7.30) and Duncan (7.34) advancing in the 60-meter final and Alexander qualifying with the 400-meter final with a new lifetime PR and No. 8-ranked time on LSU’s all-time indoor list at 53.03.
Joining Alexander in the final of the women’s 400 meters are juniors Cassandra Tate (53.36) and Jonique Day (54.19) and sophomore Siedda Herbert (54.22). Like Alexander, both Tate and Herbert recorded new indoor personal bests during the preliminary round. In addition, senior All-American Kenyanna Wilson is set to join Hackett and Duncan in the 60-meter final after clocking 7.41 in the prelim.
The Lady Tigers also qualified a pair of finalists in both the 60-meter hurdles in freshman Jasmin Stowers (8.21) and senior Tenaya Jones (8.27) and the 800-meter run in sophomore Charlene Lipsey (2:07.13) and senior Brittany Hall (2:08.22). Also, Laura Carleton (4:55.42) also ran a PR to qualify for the mile final.
While the Lady Tigers qualified 15 entries into championship finals Saturday, the Tigers added eight with their performance for a total of 23 qualifiers on the track for the day.
The Tigers were led by senior Gabriel Mvumvure and junior Horatio Williams as each qualified for finals in both the 60-meter dash and 200-meter dash. Williams qualified with times of 6.69 in the 60-meters and 20.87 in the 200 meters, while Mvumvure advanced with times of 6.70 and 21.01, respectively.
The Tigers also advanced all three of their 400-meter runners into Sunday’s championship final as juniors Riker Hylton (46.65) and Robert Simmons (46.97) and sophomore Caleb Williams (46.56) advanced with their performance. In addition, junior Barrett Nugent (7.80) advanced to the final of the 60 hurdles.
“We always look at meets like this as two different track meets,” Shaver said. “We had a great meet today and it’s important that we now put this behind us and get ready to go again tomorrow. All we did here this afternoon is put ourselves in a position to compete for the team championship tomorrow. We’ve got to get ready to go out and compete even harder tomorrow with a championship on the line.”
The 2010 SEC Indoor Track & Field Championships will continue Sunday with the first field event slated for a 10 a.m. CT start followed by the first finals on the track at 12:35 p.m. This year’s SEC Indoor men’s and women’s team champions will be crowned in an awards ceremony scheduled for 4:15 p.m.
Saturday’s Results at the 2010 SEC Indoor Track & Field Championships
MEN
3,000 Meters
1. Dumisane Hlaselo, Florida, 8:00.43; 2. Ben Cheruiyot, Auburn, 8:01.38; 3. Emmanuel Bor, Alabama, 8:02.07; 4. Solomon Haile, Arkansas, 8:04.48; 5. Eric Fernandez, Arkansas, 8:11.26; 6. Lane Boyer, Arkansas, 8:12.09; 7. Carrison Kemei, Alabama, 8:13.81; 8. Brandon Lord, Georgia, 8:14.04.
Pole Vault
1. Joe Berry, Tennessee, 17-7 ½; 2. Marcus McGehee, LSU, 17-7 ½; 3. Matt Shuler, South Carolina, 17-3 ½; T4. Josh Dominguez, LSU, 16-11 ½; T4. Joseph Caraway, LSU, 16-11 ½; 6. Paul Malquist, Georgia, 16-11 ½; 7. Robert Rasnick, Tennessee, 16-11 ½; 8. John Smith, Georgia, 16-5 ½.
Long Jump
1. Tarik Batchelor, Arkansas, 26-5 ¾; 2. Damar Forbes, LSU, 26-3; 3. Will Claye, Florida, 26-0 ¾; 4. Zedric Thomas, LSU, 25-4 ½; 5. Justin Hunter, Tennessee, 25-4; 6. Caleb Lee, Ole Miss, 25-2 ¾; 7. Raymond Higgs, Arkansas, 25-2 ½; 8. Christian Taylor, Florida, 25-0.
Shot Put
1. Kemal Mesic, Florida, 64-1; 2. Eric Werskey, Auburn, 63-11; 3. Stephen Saenz, Auburn, 62-10; 4. Israel Machovec, Georgia, 58-4; 5. Stipe Zunic, Florida, 57-0 ¾; 6. Petr Novotny, Georgia, 55-6 ¼; 7. Colin Boevers, Kentucky, 54-6 ½; 8. Caleb Whitener, Georgia, 54-2 ½.
Heptathlon
1. Gray Horn, Florida, 5,816; 2. Kevin Lazas, Arkansas, 5,674; 3. Michael Ayers, Georgia, 5,578; 4. Terry Prentice, Arkansas, 5,462; 5. Michael Hughes, Alabama, 5,339; 6. Tommy Barrineau, Georgia, 5,202; 7. Matt Kirbos, Arkansas, 5,133; 8. Jerry Thompson, South Carolina, 4,968.
Team Scores (5 events scored)
1. Florida, 41; 2. Arkansas, 39; 3. LSU, 30; T4. Auburn, 22; T4. Georgia, 22; 6. Tennessee, 16; 7. Alabama, 12; 8. South Carolina, 7; 9. Ole Miss, 3; 10. Kentucky, 2.
WOMEN
3,000 Meters
1. Jackie Areson, Tennessee, 9:10.49; 2. Liz Costello, Tennessee, 9:16.14; 3. Brittany Sheffey, Tennessee, 9:26.75; 4. Miranda Walker, Arkansas, 9:28.20; 5. Holly Knight, Auburn, 9:28.98; 6. Cally Macumber, Kentucky, 9:35.00; 7. Cory McGee, Florida, 9:36.25; 8. Stephanie Barnes, Auburn, 9:38.79.
High Jump
1. Brittani Carter, LSU, 6-0 ¾; 2. Krystle Schade, Alabama, 6-0 ¾; 3. Maya Pressley, Auburn, 5-11 ½; 4. Saniel Atkinson, Georgia, 5-11 ½; 5. Terri-Ann Grant, Kentucky, 5-8; T6. Ellen Wortham, Tennessee, 5-6; T6. Monica Carney, Auburn, 5-6; T6. Alexis Muniz, Florida, 5-6.
Long Jump
1. Jen Clayton, LSU, 20-3 ½; 2. Shantel Thompson, Arkansas, 19-10 ¾; 3. Whitney Jones, Arkansas, 19-10 ¼; 4. Melissa Ogbourne, LSU, 19-9 ½; 5. Lynnika Pitts, LSU, 19-6 ¾; 6. Aria Gaines, Ole Miss, 19-6 ¼; 7. Precious Nwokey, Kentucky, 19-2 ¾; 8. Kia Jackson, Tennessee, 18-11 ¼.
Weight Throw
1. Fidela James, Florida, 65-0 ¾; 2. Alesha Asijie, Georgia, 64-7 ¼; 3. Amethyst Holmes, Alabama, 62-1 ¾; 4. Heather Smith, Kentucky, 62-0 ½; 5. Favian Cowards, Mississippi State, 60-10 ½; 6. Jessie Harrison, Tennessee, 60-8 ½; 7. Jazmin Miller, Ole Miss, 60-1; 8. Juliana Smith, Ole Miss, 59-10 ½.
Pentathlon
1. Precious Nwokey, Kentucky, 4,185; 2. Lucie Ondraschkova, Georgia, 3,995; 3. Ellen Wortham, Tennessee, 3,977; 4. Makeba Alcide, Arkansas, 3,959; 5. Fabia McDonald, Ole Miss, 3,922; 6. Kaylon Eppinger, Alabama, 3,835; 7. Brittany Harrell, Florida, 3,771; 8. Leah Orley, Arkansas, 3,604.
Team Scores (5 events scored)
1. Tennessee, 36; 2. LSU, 29; 3. Georgia, 27; 4. Arkansas, 25; 5. Kentucky, 24; 6. Alabama, 17; 7. Florida, 16; 8. Auburn, 13; 9. Ole Miss, 10; 10. Mississippi State, 4.