BATON ROUGE – LSU junior Johnnie Jackson stepped into the circle for his first throw of Saturday’s weight throw competition and took a big step toward NCAA Championship qualification as he added more than one foot to his personal best with a winning mark of 69 feet, 3 ¼ inches at the LSU High Performance Meet at the Carl Maddox Field House.
After entering the meet ranked No. 25 nationally with a previous best of 67-11 ¾ in the event, Jackson finished on the cusp of NCAA qualification with the Top 16 athletes in each individual event earning the right to go to the NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships in Birmingham, Alabama, next month.
Jackson set the tone in the first event of the day was among eight event winners and seven Tigers and Lady Tigers to set indoor personal bests during Saturday’s action at the LSU High Performance Meet.
Jackson has been impressive in his debut season with the Tigers as the former two-time junior college national champion has already raised his weight throw personal best three times this season. He kicked off his LSU career with a mark of 67-2 ¾ at the Purple Tiger Invitational on Jan. 8 before raising his best to 67-11 ¾ just two weeks ago at the Razorback Invitational on Jan. 29.
He wasted no time in raising the bar again as he unleashed a lifetime best of 69-3 ¼ on his very first throw of Saturday’s competition at the LSU High Performance Meet to move into first place in the first round and lock up his first event title as a Tiger. His was a series that also produced marks of 68-8 in the second round, 66-11 ¼ in the fourth round and 67-9 in the final round en route to the victory.
Jackson also took a big step toward NCAA Championship qualification as he moved eight spots up the national rankings into the No. 17 spot nationally while tying as the fourth-ranked thrower in team history.
Jackson wasn’t the only Tiger to open up Saturday’s competition at the LSU High Performance Meet with a personal best in the men’s weight throw as senior Patrick Geers added more than four inches to his PR with a series-best throw of 66-11 ½ in the third round that earned him a third-place finish overall. Alabama’s Daniel Haugh scored the silver medal in the event with a mark of 67-0 on his first attempt. Tiger senior David Collins rounded out the Top 4 in the standings with a mark of 65-9 ¾ for fourth place overall.
Derek Yush‘s throwers actually set three personal bests on the day as redshirt freshman Madison Danna followed with a more than four-foot personal best of 45-7 for 11th place in the women’s weight throw event.
Sophomore Marvalyn Vernon was the top Lady Tiger in the women’s weight throw competition as she finished just under her personal best for the day with a mark of 55-0 ¼ to match Collins’ effort with a fourth-place finish of her own. Fellow sophomore Sidnie Wilder placed eighth in the event with a season-opening mark of 53-4 ½ in her first meet of 2016 while coming back from injury.
Moore, the NCAA’s No. 1-ranked sprint hurdler entering the weekend, captured the Tigers’ second event title on the afternoon with a narrow win in the men’s 60-meter hurdles as he edged former Tiger All-American Joshua Thompson at the line with matching times of 7.84 in the final. Moore came from behind midway through the race to beat Thompson to the finish line by five one-thousandths of a second.
The two former teammates ran stride-for-stride throughout the competition after also running matching heat-winning times of 7.86 earlier in the day to advance as the top two seeds into the hurdle final.
Moore was one of four NCAA leaders for the Tigers entering the weekend with his seasonal-best time of 7.69 as he is among the contenders to take home SEC and NCAA titles in the event in the coming weeks. He will look to put the finishing touches on his preparation for the championship season at the LSU Twilight next weekend.
Fellow junior Cameron Robichaux continued to raise the bar on his 2016 season during Saturday’s action in Baton Rouge while clearing 17 feet in the pole vault for the first time in his collegiate career to secure a second event title on the campaign. He was also crowned the men’s pole vault champion at the Conference Clash Power Five Invitational in Birmingham earlier in the season.
After remaining in the competition with a third-attempt clearance on his first height at 16-0, Robichaux took the lead with a second-attempt clearance at 16-6 and sealed the victory with a first-attempt make at 17-0 for a new lifetime personal best in the event. He fouled out of the competition with three misses at 17-5 ½ that would have positioned him for NCAA qualification at No. 16 on the national list.
Robichaux was trailed in the final event standings by sophomore teammate Jonathan Nelsen, who jumped a personal best of his own with a third attempt clearance at 16-6 before going out with the bar at 17-0.
Other LSU athletes taking home event titles on Saturday afternoon during the LSU High Performance Meet were senior Kiersten Duncan with a run of 24.54 in the women’s 200 meters, senior Shanice Hall with a clearance of 5-8 ½ in the women’s high jump, junior Matthew Rhorer with a time of 1:57.72 in the men’s 800 meters, sophomore Keterra Harris with a time of 57.15 in the women’s 400 meters, and sophomore Danielle Phillips with a jump of 19-0 in the women’s long jump.
Like Jackson, redshirt freshman athlete Rebecca Little turned in a performance ranking among the Top 10 all-time in school history as she became the 10th-fastest Lady Tiger to ever run the 5k indoors when she crossed the finish line in 18:08.43 for a second-place finish in the women’s 5,000 meters. Little’s lifetime best converted to 18:00.15 to rank No. 10 on LSU’s all-time indoor performance list in the event.
Adding an indoor personal best of her own during Saturday’s events was freshman high jumper Kaitlyn Walker, who followed Hall in third place in the final women’s high jump standings with her mark of 5-2 ½.
The Tigers and Lady Tigers will have one final opportunity to prepare for the championship season next weekend when they remain in Baton Rouge to play host to the LSU Twilight being held Friday, Feb. 19, at the Carl Maddox Field House. They will then return to the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville for the SEC Indoor Championships running Feb. 26-27 at the Randal Tyson Track Center.