BATON ROUGE – Two-time junior college national champion Johnnie Jackson stepped into the ring as an LSU Tiger for the first time in Friday’s Purple Tiger Invitational and turned in the best performance of his career when he unleashed a personal-best throw of 67 feet, 2 ¾ inches to take second place in the men’s weight throw competition.
Jackson signed his National Letter of Intent with the Tigers nearly a year ago as the junior college national record holder in the event with a top mark of 66-9 ¼ he set in his two seasons at Coffeyville Community College where he was a two-time national champion as a freshman in 2014 and as a sophomore in 2015.
He nearly touched that mark with a season-opening 66-8 ½ on his very first throw in the purple and gold before letting fly a new career best of 67-2 ¾ on his second attempt to lock up second place overall.
It was an impressive debut series for Jackson in an LSU uniform as he also posted marks of 65-8 ¾ in the third round of qualifying before ending the competition at 66-7 on his sixth and final attempt on the day that also nearly reached his personal-best throw entering the meet. Jackson’s personal record of 67-2 ¾ moved him into the No. 5 spot on LSU’s all-time indoor performance list in the event.
“I came into the meet trying to PR, that’s pretty much a goal in every meet,” Jackson said following the competition. “I felt really good waking up today, I wasn’t too sore. Today I just wanted to get warm and loosened up and get rolling along. When I got into the ring and started throwing, it just seemed to click. Everything seemed really good.
“I opened up right under my PR and then beat it with my second throw. I was just trying to go out there and do what I know I can do and make sure I really hit the ending. That’s what we were focusing on.”
Southeastern Louisiana’s Alexander Young took control of the men’s weight throw competition in the second round when he uncorked the top throw of the day at 70-8 to take the title despite fouling each of his other five throws during the meet. Young’s teammate Jonathan Kinchen bagged the bronze medal with his top throw of the day at 64-5 in the first round.
LSU senior Patrick Geers enjoyed a personal-best performance of his own when he opened the competition with a mark of 64-3 ¾ on his very first throw of the day to edge past his previous best of 63-8 ¼ set a season ago. Geers matched his series-best of 64-3 ¾ in the fifth round to crack LSU’s all-time Top 10 list as the 10th-ranked Tiger in the weight throw in the program’s history.
Fellow senior David Collins rounded out the weight throw competition for the Tigers as he opened the 2016 season with a top throw of 60-3 in the final round to take sixth place overall in the event.
Following a solid start to the season with their performance at Friday’s Purple Tiger Invitational, the Tigers will now look to build momentum throughout the rest of the indoor season in their bid to qualify for the NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships in March. It took a throw of 70-2 ¼ to qualify in the 16th position for the NCAA Indoor Championships in the weight throw a season ago.
“I’m just going to try to continue to do as I have, but maybe push myself a little bit harder to get to where I want to be,” Jackson said. “I feel as if I could have been more disciplined with myself at times in my training in my regimen throughout the day. I’m going to try to really do the small things that I know I’ve been lacking to get better. Thankfully, being able to open up at a good mark is exactly where I wanted to be to start out.”
Like Jackson, true freshman Amy Stelly also became one of the Top 10 performers in school history in her LSU debut at Friday’s Purple Tiger Invitational when she cleared the bar at 11-9 en route to a fifth-place finish in the women’s pole vault. Her season-opening height moved Stelly into a tie for the No. 6 spot on LSU’s all-time indoor performance list in the women’s event.
The last time Nataliyah Friar spiked up for the Lady Tigers, she took to the runway and earned All-America honors in the triple jump with a sixth-place finish nationally at the NCAA Outdoor Championships a season ago. She also earned All-America honors in the long jump as a sophomore indoors as the NCAA Indoor Bronze Medalist in the event.
Friar actually turned in her fastest sprint as a Lady Tiger in Friday’s season opener when she took the tape in the women’s 60-meter final in 7.44 seconds after racing to a personal best of 7.43 in the qualifying round.
The Lady Tigers ended in three of the top four spots in the final of the 60-meter dash as Friar was followed across the finish line by senior teammate Kiersten Duncan in second place with her time of 7.58 and freshman Shayna Yon in fourth place with a run of 7.64 in her collegiate debut. Sam Houston State’s Paula Smith edged Yon at the tape for the bronze medal with a time of 7.62 in the 60-meter final.
Sophomore Danielle Phillips turned in LSU’s fourth personal-best performance of the day in two rounds of the women’s 60-meter hurdles when she followed a best of 8.67 in the qualifying round with a best of 8.59 in the final to claim a sixth-place finish in the event. Sophomore All-American Daeshon Gordon opened her 2016 season with a run of 8.37 for a runner-up finish in the hurdle final.
Sophomore Da’Quan Bellard and freshman Chadd Burns followed with personal bests in the field events as Bellard jumped 23-5 ¼ for seventh in the long jump and Burns cleared 15-11 ¾ for fifth in the pole vault.
LSU’s athletes actually combined for nine personal-best performances during their 2016 opener as senior Shanice Holmes and redshirt freshman Jenna Walker added their names to the list of standout performers this evening as the competition came to a close. Walker scored the silver medal in the women’s 3,000 meters with a time of 10:39.69 before Holmes followed with an indoor PR of 16-10 ¾ in the long jump.
Florida State transfer Michael Cherry set the pace for the Tigers in his first competition in the purple and gold as he outlasted teammates Cyril Grayson and Ohio State transfer LaMar Bruton to the finish line for the title in the men’s 600 meters. Cherry took the tape in 1:18.64 ahead of Grayson in second place at 1:19.26 and Bruton in third place at 1:19.55. After their sweep of the Top 3 spots in the first heat, senior Fitzroy Dunkley had a run of 1:20.17 to place first in the second heat and fifth overall in the event.
Other standout performances in Friday’s opener were turned in by senior Chanice Chase (1:34.50) and sophomore Kymber Payne (1:36.03) in a 2-3 finish in the women’s 600 meters and the Lady Tigers’ 4×800-meter relay team finishing as the top collegians in the field with freshman Hollie Parker, sophomore Keterra Harris, junior Danielle Avery and sophomore Hannah Deworth running 9:11.82.
LSU’s 4×800-meter relay then teamed once more to take second overall as the top collegians in the distance medley relay in the final event of the night as they clocked 12:09.67 with an order of Avery, Harris, Deworth and Parker. The Tiger Olympians finished just over two seconds in front of the Lady Tigers with a winning time of 12:07.33.
With the 2016 indoor season now underway, the Tigers and Lady Tigers will be back in action next weekend as they return to the Carl Maddox Field House to play host to the Bayou Bengal Invitational running Saturday, Jan. 16, beginning at 10 a.m. CT with the first field events of the day. The action gets going on the track at Noon with the start of the afternoon finals at 1:05 p.m.