BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – With a strong performance Friday at Indiana’s Billy Hayes Track, the LSU track and field teams continued their momentum at the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds as they picked up 14 additional qualifiers into the national semifinals during the second day of competition in Bloomington.
Through two days of action at the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds, the Tigers and Lady Tigers combined for 18 total semifinalists at the 2011 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships that will be held June 8-11 at Drake Stadium on the campus of Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.
The teams were also outstanding in first-round qualifying once again on Friday as nine athletes moved on to quarterfinals on the track that will be held in Saturday’s meet finale.
“When you look at how many opportunities we had for advancement, we nearly batted a thousand here in the meet today. It was a great day for both of our teams,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “I thought our women, in particular, were very good today across the board. Not only are they advancing, but I really like what I see in how they are advancing to get to the next round in Des Moines.
“They know they need to take advantage of every opportunity they can to advance. They understand what they need to do to put themselves in a position to compete for a national championship this season.”
Senior All-American Brittani Carter earned her return trip to the national semifinals in the high jump with perhaps her most impressive performance of the 2011 outdoor campaign as she proved to be the class of this year’s field at the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds. The two-time NCAA Indoor bronze medalist had first-attempt clearances at 5-7, 5-8 ¾, 5-10 and 5-11 ¼ while finishing the competition with no misses.
Carter was the only high jumpers in the field to finish the event without a miss, while finishing among the Top 12 in the final event standings for an automatic berth into the NCAA semifinals.
Also finishing with the top performance of the afternoon in her event was junior Cassandra Tate, who was the fastest quarterfinalist in the women’s 400-meter hurdles while winning the last heat in 56.36 seconds.
While running in the third and final quarterfinal heat against fellow NCAA title contenders LaToya James of North Carolina and Ti’erra Brown of Miami, it was Tate crossing the finish line in first place overall in 56.36. Brown finished in second place at 56.67 and James took third place at 56.95 in the heat.
“I think Cassandra is running with quite a bit of confidence right now, and she believes that her best races are ahead of her,” Shaver said. “We never talk about time. We always talk about striking down over those last hurdles in a position to win. It might not have been a personal best, but I really thought that was more like her best race of the year. And she’s still just learning how to run the race the way she should.”
The Lady Tigers made a clean sweep in the women’s 100-meter dash as all four competitors advancing to Friday’s quarterfinal round finished among the Top 12 punching their ticket to the national semifinals.
Senior Kenyanna Wilson paved the way to Des Moines for the Lady Tigers as she won the second heat of the NCAA quarterfinals in 11.33 seconds. Junior Semoy Hackett (11.32) and sophomore Kimberlyn Duncan (11.43) each finished runner-up in their respective heats to earn an automatic berth into the semis. In addition, freshman Toshika Sylvester advanced to the national semifinal on time as her 11.55 picked up a fourth-place finish in Wilson’s heat with the 11th-fastest time of the day.
In addition to their performance in the 100-meter dash Friday, Duncan (23.29) and Hackett (23.46) earned a spot in Saturday’s quarterfinal round of the 200-meter dash by winning their first-round heats. They will be joined in the quarterfinal by Sylvester (24.05) and junior Rebecca Alexander (23.82), who each moved on to the next round on time to help the Lady Tigers finish a perfect 4-for-4 in first-round qualifying.
Melissa Ogbourne is another Lady Tiger senior who will have an opportunity to wrap up her career with a berth into the NCAA semifinals following her fourth-place finish in the triple jump. Ogbourne jumped 42 feet, 8 ¼ inches on her third attempt of the prelims before passing on her final three jumps.
Sophomore Charlene Lipsey added her name to LSU’s list of NCAA semifinalists with her gutsy effort in the 800-meter run as she finished second in her heat and sixth overall with a time of 2:05.63. Lipsey stood in sixth position in the first of three quarterfinal heats as she rounded the final turn and headed for the line in the last 100 meters. But she bounced outside and passed four runners en route to second place.
After opening the meet with two semifinals qualifiers on Thursday, the Lady Tigers added eight qualifiers on Friday for 10 semifinalists in two days of action. They still have nine more opportunities Saturday.
Junior Riker Hylton led a group of six Tigers advancing to the national semifinals on Friday as he clocked a new personal record of 45.85 to win the first of three quarterfinal heats. Hylton eclipsed his previous PR of 45.92 entering the meet with the fourth-fastest qualifying time in Friday’s quarterfinal round.
The Tigers also qualified a pair of semifinalists in both the men’s hammer throw and men’s long jump for the afternoon. Senior Walter Henning set a new 2011 seasonal best of 226-8 while finishing in third place in the hammer competition, while junior Michael Lauro followed in fourth place at 217-9. After earning a spot in the semifinals of the long jump on Thursday, senior Zedric Thomas jumped 51-9 ¾ to qualify with fourth place in the triple jump. Junior Kyron Blaise also qualified in 10th place at 51-2 ¾.
In addition, junior Horatio Williams advanced to the semifinal round of the men’s 100-meter dash with an impressive 10.31 to take third place in his quarterfinal heat. He followed by winning his qualifying heat in the 200-meter dash with an easy victory in 20.88 for the fourth-fastest time of the first round.
Fellow junior Keyth Talley also advanced to Saturday’s quarterfinal round in the 200 meters after earning a third-place finish in his prelim heat with the 17th-fastest time of the first round of qualifying.
“The thing about this meet, it’s never really about performance. It’s all about place,” Shaver said. “That’s something we always preach to our athletes. The place you get is what seeds you in Des Moines. It’s what is most important here this weekend. That’s the focus that our athletes need to have to advance.”
The Tigers and Lady Tigers were also perfect in first-round qualifying in the sprint hurdles held Friday as junior Barrett Nugent (13.91) won his heat of the 110-meter hurdles and freshman Jasmin Stowers (13.28) won her heat of the 100-meter hurdles to advance to the quarterfinal round on Saturday afternoon.
Joining Stowers in the quarterfinal round of the 100-meter hurdles will be senior Tenaya Jones as she was the third-place finisher in her first-round heat in 13.65 to rank as the 17th-fastest qualifier of the day.
LSU kicks off the final day of competition at the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds at 10 a.m. CT Saturday with the qualifying round of the women’s discus throw. The preliminary round of the men’s and women’s 4×100-meter relays leads the action on the track beginning at 5 p.m.
Fans are reminded that a live video stream of Friday’s action at E.C. Billy Hayes Track will begin at 5 p.m. for the start of the running events and will be provided by iuhoosiers.cstv.com. Fans can also receive live updates of the Tigers and Lady Tigers competing at the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds in becoming a fan of LSU Track & Field on Facebook and following @LSUTrackField on Twitter.
LSU’s Qualifiers for the NCAA Championships Semifinals in Des Moines, Iowa
Note: All marks and places were achieved this weekend at the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds
Tigers
Name, Event, Time/Mark (Place)
Kyron Blaise, Triple Jump, 51-2 ¾ (10)
Damar Forbes, Long Jump, 25-8 ¼ (2)
Walter Henning, Hammer Throw, 226-8 (3)
Riker Hylton, 400 meters, 45.85 (4)
Michael Lauro, Hammer Throw, 217-9 (4)
Zedric Thomas, Long Jump, 24-7 (12)
Zedric Thomas, Triple Jump, 51-9 ¾ (4)
Horatio Williams, 100 meters, 10.31 (7)
Lady Tigers
Name, Event, Time/Mark (Place)
Brittani Carter, High Jump, 5-11 ¼ (T1)
Kimberlyn Duncan, 100 meters, 11.43 (6)
Semoy Hackett, 100 meters, 11.32 (4)
Brieanna Kennedy, Hammer Throw, 191-3 (12)
Rachel Laurent, Pole Vault, 13-1 ½ (8)
Charlene Lipsey, 800 meters, 2:05.63 (6)
Melissa Ogbourne, Triple Jump, 42-8 ¼ (4)
Toshika Sylvester, 100 meters, 11.55 (11)
Cassandra Tate, 400 hurdles, 56.36 (1)
Kenyanna Wilson, 100 meters, 11.33 (2)