FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Tiger sophomore Tremayne Acy sprinted to a lifetime personal best of 20.85 seconds and senior All-American Aaron Ernest followed with a seasonal best of his own at 20.97 as each cracked the Top 10 of the NCAA rankings to highlight Friday’s opener at the Razorback Invitational being held at the Randal Tyson Track Center.
Their efforts helped propel the Tigers to the top of the men’s team standings with 46.5 points on the first day of competition, followed by Texas A&M (43) in second place and Arkansas (34) in third place.
After clocking a season-opening 21.16 in a runner-up finish at Kentucky’s Rod McCravy Memorial Track & Field Meet a week ago, Acy scored his second-straight silver medal in the event with the fastest 200 meters for his career as he crossed the finish line in 20.85 to take the tape in the fourth heat.
Acy beat Texas A&M’s Devin Jenkins (20.91) to the finish line to take the lead in the event with just three heats to go, but his lead was short-lived when Tulsa’s Bryce Robinson won the final heat in 20.78.
While coming up just short of claiming his first collegiate 200-meter title indoors, Acy catapulted himself into the Top 5 of the national rankings as the NCAA’s No. 5-ranked 200-meter sprinter for the 2015 indoor season and became the sixth-fastest Tiger in school history in the event. It was a performance that smashed his previous indoor personal best of 21.03 set during his freshman season with the Tigers a season ago.
Earlier in the day, Acy cruised into Saturday’s semifinal round of the men’s 60-meter dash with a qualifying 6.72 that was just one one-hundredth short of his personal best of 6.71 for sixth place in the first round.
Ernest followed Acy’s heat victory with a Top 10 time nationally of his own when he finished runner-up to Robinson in the seventh heat and fifth place overall with his seasonal-best sprint of 20.97. A former SEC Indoor Champion and All-American in the event, Ernest is one step closer to making a return trip to the NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships with his performance.
The Lady Tigers also made headlines in Friday’s sprint races as they advanced four into the semifinal round of the women’s 60 meters to be run Saturday afternoon at the Randal Tyson Track Center. Freshman Aleia Hobbs was the leading Lady Tiger for the afternoon when she sprinted to victory in the fifth heat with the third-fastest time for the day at 7.38. Fellow freshman Mikiah Brisco followed as the fifth-fastest qualifier after clocking 7.39, while sophomore Rushell Harvey qualified eighth by matching her personal best of 7.47 and sophomore Jada Martin qualified 10th with a time of 7.49.
Martin was later the top Lady Tiger in the sections of the women’s 200-meter dash as she took sixth place in 23.86, while Harvey set a new indoor personal best in the event with a run of 24.19 for 14th place overall.
Brisco was also among four Lady Tigers advancing to Saturday’s semifinals of the women’s 60-meter hurdles when she crossed the finish line in 8.69 to finish runner-up to fellow freshman Daeshon Gordon (8.53) in the first qualifying heat. Senior Mariah Georgetown was the eighth-fastest qualifier with her time of 8.68, while freshman Danielle Phillips qualified 10th overall with a personal-best time of 8.82.
Sophomore All-America hopeful Nataliyah Friar was crowned LSU’s first event champion of the weekend when she struck gold in the women’s long jump, soaring 20 feet, 2 ½ inches in the fifth round to overtake Iowa State’s Jhoanmy Luque (19-9 ½) for the title. Friar qualified for the final in third place with a preliminary mark of 19-7 in the second round, and leaped to victory with her second-best jump of the 2015 season.
An NCAA Indoor finalist in her freshman season with the Lady Tigers a year ago, Friar jumped a seasonal best of 20-5 ¾ in Kentucky a week ago as the NCAA’s No. 11-ranked performer in the event this season.
Lady Tiger freshman Bria Druilhet followed Friar with an indoor personal best of 18-11 ¾ for a sixth-place finish in the long jump final, while Phillips jumped a series-best of 18-0 ½ for eighth place overall in the event.
In other action, senior Andreas Duplantis cleared the bar at 17-0 ¾ to score the silver medal as the top Tiger in the men’s pole vault and senior Jeremy Tuttle bagged the bronze medal in the men’s weight throw tossing 61-11 in the final. Sophomore Joseph St. Cyr clocked 14:58.60 for fourth place in his first collegiate indoor 5,000 meters, while junior Shanice Hall and sophomore Briana Kelly each cleared the height of 5-7 to capture the fourth and fifth place, respectively, in the women’s high jump.
Saturday’s action at the Razorback Invitational continues with the first events on the track at noon CT followed by the first field events on the day at 1 p.m. and running through the 4×400-meter relays beginning at 4:15 p.m. Fans can watch the Tigers and Lady Tigers in action on the SEC Network+ online at ESPN3.com and using the WatchESPN app with live coverage beginning at noon CT.