ATHENS, Ga. – The No. 1-ranked Lady Tigers were led by a pair of All-SEC performances from junior Rachel Laurent in the pole vault and freshman Jen Clayton in the long jump on Saturday afternoon as they took another step toward defending their team title at the SEC Outdoor Track & Field Championships that is being held this weekend at Georgia’s Spec Towns Track.
A former SEC Indoor pole vault champion, Laurent picked up her fifth career All-SEC honor in the event, as she cleared a height of 13 feet, 9 ¾ inches on her first attempt to score eight points with second place.
Laurent trailed only Arkansas’ Tina Sutej in the final event standings as the Razorback junior eclipsed the collegiate record in the women’s pole vault with a winning mark of 15-1 ½. Laurent won silver, following first-attempt clearances at 13-1 ¾ and 13-5 ¾ before fouling out with the bar at 14-1 ½.
As Laurent wrapped up second place in the pole vault, Clayton was preparing for her first attempts during her warm-up for the third flight of the long jump. She entered the meet as the reigning SEC Indoor champ in the event after taking the title in her first SEC Championships appearance back in March.
And Clayton wasted little time in establishing herself as an All-SEC contender as she jumped a windy 20-3 ½ on her second attempt of the preliminary round for a mark that held up for second place.
The Lady Tigers actually picked up 11 points in the long jump, as senior Melissa Ogbourne (19-9 ¾) took seventh place and sophomore Brittany Porter (19-8 ¾w) took eighth place in the event.
With their performance, the Lady Tigers finished the third day of competition at this year’s SEC meet in a tie for third place in the team standings with Arkansas as both teams have scored 39 points with eight events in the books. Florida leads the women’s team race with 50 points after Saturday’s action, while the Georgia Bulldogs follow closely behind with 49 points in the competition.
“Our kids really gave a great competitive effort today. Our women in particular have done what they have needed to do to put themselves in a position to defend their SEC team championship here tomorrow,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “It’s shaping up to be another great finish at the SEC Championships.”
Senior Brittani Carter kicked off the third day of competition for the Lady Tigers by taking home a bronze medal in the women’s high jump with her third-place clearance at 5-10 ½ inches.
The two-time SEC Indoor champion moved into third-place in the field of 17 with a clearance over 5-7 on her first attempt and a clearance over 5-8 ¾ again on her first attempt. Carter exited the competition in her final SEC Championships after three misses with the bar resting at 5-11 ½.
Defending SEC Outdoor champion Samia Stokes nearly medaled in the discus as she added five points on the scoreboard for the Lady Tigers with a fourth-place finish in the event. Stokes opened her series for her first throw with a mark of 166-10 that stood as the fourth-best attempt in six rounds on the afternoon.
While Carter became LSU’s first individual medalist of this year’s SEC meet, the Tigers totaled 13 points in their first finals of the day between the men’s long jump and men’s javelin competitions.
In arguably the strongest event on the men’s side at the SEC Outdoor Championships again this year with the men’s long jump, sophomore Damar Forbes and senior Zedric Thomas each set 2011 seasonal bests to score seven points for the Tigers. Forbes set a new outdoor personal best of 26-1 ¾ on his first attempt for the competition to take fifth place, while Thomas set a new outdoor personal best of his own at 26-0 on an impressive second attempt to finish his final SEC Championships long jump in sixth place.
The SEC has certainly proven to be the most dominant conference in the country in the long jump with its performance, and Saturday was no different as Florida’s Will Claye jumped 27-2 ½ to take title, while Arkansas’ Tarik Batchelor (26-10 ½w) and Raymond Higgs (26-9) won silver and bronze medals.
For the second year in a row, the SEC champion in the men’s long jump took home the title with a winner of more than 27 feet as Alain Bailey of Arkansas was crowned last year’s champion at 27-4 ¾.
One can only imagine the strength of the SEC in the long jump when considering Friday’s Pac-10 titlist in the event was USC’s Brendan Ames, whose winning jump of 25-2 ¾ would have took eighth place today.
“This is a competitive conference. You gain an appreciation for the talent in our league when you jump an outdoor PR over 26 feet and finish about fifth or sixth,” Shaver said. “That’s an event in this league where you can never feel comfortable until all six rounds are complete. It’s become an Olympics caliber event in this league with a jump of 27 feet winning it again this year. Those points don’t come cheap.”
Two Tigers also set 2011 seasonal bests in Saturday’s javelin competition with both senior Mark DeBlanc and junior Ryan Roubion combining for six points in the event.
After holding on to seventh place entering the final round of throws, DeBlanc heaved the javelin 215-2 on his sixth and final attempt of the afternoon to move up three spots into fourth place and score five points. Roubion wasted little time in setting his seasonal best as he let loose a throw of 205-3 on his first throw to win the first flight and hold on for an eighth-place finish in the final event standings.
The Tigers and Lady Tigers added 12 finalists on the track in Saturday’s preliminary action, with six each earning the right to compete in Sunday’s championship finale.
The teams have actually combined to qualify 20 athletes into SEC finals on the track, with 11 Lady Tigers and nine Tigers advancing to Sunday’s competition. The Lady Tigers will have 22 chances to score points and defend their team title on Sunday, while the Tigers will have 23 chances to score in the finale.
Sophomore Laura Carleton set the pace for the Lady Tigers in qualifying on Saturday as she earned a spot in the 1,500-meter final for the first time in her career after setting a new personal record in the prelim.
Carleton shattered her previous PR in the event by more than seven seconds as the placed third in her heat with the third-fastest time of the day at 4 minutes, 23.21 seconds. By lowering her previous PR of 4:30.91 by more than seven seconds, Carleton moved up four spots into the No. 5 position all-time on the school’s outdoor performance list in the event as she has emerged as one of the SEC’s top middle distance runners.
Also setting a new personal best with a Top 10 performance all-time at LSU was junior Semoy Hackett as she clocked the fastest qualifying time in the women’s 100-meter dash at 11.17 (-0.1). Joining Hackett for the 100-meter final will be senior Kenyanna Wilson (11.31) and sophomore Kimberlyn Duncan (11.45).
Two Lady Tigers also advanced to Sunday’s final in the 100-meter hurdles with freshman Jasmin Stowers (13.17) and senior Tenaya Jones (13.35) looking to contribute big points for LSU’s championship run.
The Tigers were led by a trio of 400-meter runners advancing to the final race as both junior Riker Hylton (46.54) and sophomore Caleb Williams (47.05) won their respective preliminary heats on Saturday. Junior Ade Alleyne-Forte qualified on time, as he posted 46.89 to finish runner-up in his preliminary heat.
Junior Barrett Nugent was the fastest qualifier of the day in the men’s 110-meter hurdles as he was first in his heat with a wind-aided time of 13.81. He is the reigning SEC champion in the 110-meter hurdles.
Also advancing into Sunday’s championship finals were freshman Rynell Parson in the 100-meter dash in a time of 10.28 and senior Alan Sticker in the 1,500-meter run in a time of 3:53.32 seconds.
Sunday’s championship finale will begin at 11 a.m. CDT with a series of field event finals which includes the men’s triple jump and pole vault and the women’s javelin. The first SEC Championships finals for the track will follow at 1 p.m. with the men’s and women’s 4×100-meter relay. This year’s team champions at the SEC Outdoor Championships will be crowned at approximately 4:50 p.m.
Fans are also reminded that live updates on the Tigers and Lady Tigers competing in this year’s event can be received by becoming a fan of LSU Track & Field on Facebook at www.facebook.com/lsutrackfield as well as by following @LSUTrackField on Twitter at www.twitter.com/lsutrackfield.