ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – LSU’s Jada Martin edged USC’s Deanna Hill at the finish line by a split second with an indoor personal best to win the women’s 200-meter title and emerge as one of the NCAA’s top-ranked sprinters this season in Friday’s opener at the New Mexico Collegiate Classic at the Albuquerque Convention Center.
Martin matched Hill stride-for-stride in the first of 18 heats in the event and crossed the finish line just three one-thousandths of a second ahead of her Trojan rival with a career-best time of 23.03 seconds.
While the two All-America hopefuls registered matching times of 23.03 in the race, Martin’s official time of 23.021 was a split-second faster than Hill’s 23.024 for the top spot on the podium. Martin’s 23.03 adjusted for altitude to 23.10 as she smashed her previous indoor personal best by two tenths of a second after lining up with a best of 23.30 for her career.
After entering the meet with a seasonal-best 200-meter time of 23.46 set just two weeks ago, Martin vaulted seven spots up the NCAA rankings into the No. 3 spot nationally as one of the fastest sprinters for the 2016 indoor season. It was a performance that came within two one-hundredths of a second of cracking LSU’s all-time indoor performance list in the women’s 200 meters.
Martin warmed up for her 200-meter race with a qualifying sprint in the first round of the 60-meter dash earlier in the day as she won her preliminary heat in 7.37 to advance to Saturday’s semifinals.
She was among seven heat winners and four indoor personal bests set in the 200 meters as freshman Kortnei Johnson followed with a win in the third heat with an indoor best of her own at 23.56 to crack the Top 20 in the NCAA rankings this season and finish third overall in the final standings. Senior Kiersten Duncan followed by winning the fourth heat with her indoor PR of 23.93, while junior Rushell Harvey took the tape in the fifth heat with an indoor best of 23.69 to finish in fifth place overall.
Other Lady Tigers winning their 200-meter heats were junior Travia Jones (24.51) in 19th place, sophomore Kymber Payne (24.53) in 21st place and junior Christian Brennan (24.68) in 26th place in the final standings.
“They really set the tone for our teams today,” said head coach Dennis Shaver of the Lady Tigers’ 200-meter sprinters. “I don’t think we’ve seen them go out and compete like that to this point in the season, so that’s a big step forward for the group. There were a number of other performances that stood out as well, so all in all it was a good opening day for our teams.”
The Tigers were also among the top performers in the men’s 200-meter dash as junior Tinashe Mutanga led the way with a personal best of his own while finishing as the top collegian in the field. Former Tiger national champion Vernon Norwood set the pace with a winning run of 20.93 in the first heat, but Mutanga proved to be the class of the field among current collegians with his run of 21.15 to win the fifth heat.
Mutanga’s 21.15 adjusted for altitude to an indoor personal best of 21.22 as he smashed his previous indoor PR of 21.42 by two tenths of a second with the NCAA’s No. 30-ranked performance this season. Also posting an indoor personal best in the event was senior All-American Fitzroy Dunkley, who clocked 21.30 to win the third heat with a performance that adjusted for altitude to 21.37.
LSU’s teams featured three event winners for the day as Martin was joined by senior David Collins with a winning throw of 67 feet, 5 ¼ inches in the men’s weight throw and junior Michael Cherry with a winning run of 1 minute, 17.17 seconds in the men’s 600 meters to headline the first day of competition.
The Tigers actually finished 1-2 in both events as Collins was followed in the weight throw standings by senior Patrick Geers with a throw of 66-7 ¼ and Cherry was followed by senior Cyril Grayson with a time of 1:17.68 in the 600 meters. Geers’ 66-7 ¼ eclipsed his previous personal best of 65-6 ¼ by more than a foot as he moved into the No. 8 spot on LSU’s all-time indoor performance list in the event.
Senior Shanice Hall enjoyed a top-10 performance in school history herself as she cleared the bar at 5-10 to finish in second place among collegiate athletes and fifth place overall in the women’s high jump. Hall climbed one spot into a tie for the No. 8 position on LSU’s all-time indoor list in the event while eclipsing her previous indoor personal best of 5-9 ¾ set two seasons ago.
Tiger junior Cameron Robichaux cleared also cleared a personal-best height during Friday’s field-event action as he went up and over the bar at 16-11 ½ in the men’s pole vault to take fourth place among the collegiate athletes in the field. Robichaux has already raised his personal best by six inches this season while coming within a half inch of the 17-foot barrier for the first time in his career with the Tigers.
Also setting a personal best in Friday’s weight throw in her season debut in the event was sophomore Marvalyn Vernon, who threw a best of 55-5 ¾ for fifth place overall in the women’s competition.
“Our athletes are turning in a number of personal bests each time we have a chance to compete. That’s great to see, especially at this time of the season when we’re trying to build some momentum as we get close to the championship season,” Shaver said. “Tomorrow is another big day for both our teams in that regard.”
Junior Jordan Moore kicked off Friday’s action by winning the third preliminary heat of the men’s 60-meter hurdles with a run of 7.79 for the fourth-fastest time of the day and second-fastest among collegians. Moore, the NCAA leader in the event, was one of 13 Tigers and Lady Tigers advancing to Saturday’s semifinals in the 60-meter dash and 60-meter hurdles on the day.
Fellow junior Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake followed Moore’s performance by qualifying as the top Tiger in the men’s 60 meters with a time of 6.70 to win the sixth heat with the fourth-fastest time of the day.
Mitchell-Blake, an NCAA leader in his own right with a seasonal-best time of 20.57 in the 200 meters, matched his personal-best time in Friday’s 60-meter qualifying as his time of 6.70 adjusts for altitude to 6.72. He was followed in the event by Mutanga, who qualified ninth overall with a time of 6.84 before posting his indoor PR in the 200 meters.
The Lady Tigers featured four heat winners among their 10 qualifiers in the two events with sophomore All-American Mikiah Brisco leading the way with winning times of 7.35 in the 60 meters and 8.35 in the 60 hurdles with her performance. Brisco was the third-fastest qualifier in the 60-meter dash and she clocked the fifth-fastest qualifying time of the day in the 60-meter hurdles just minutes before.
Brisco will be joined in Saturday’s semifinal round in the women’s 60-meter hurdles by sophomore Danielle Phillips, who qualified 12th overall with a time of 8.51 to finish third in the fourth prelim heat.
Eight Lady Tigers advanced among the 16 semifinalists in the women’s 60 meters as Brisco (7.35) was joined by two other heat winners in Martin with a time of 7.37 to claim the sixth heat and freshman Kortnei Johnson with a time of 7.43 to win the eighth heat. Other Lady Tigers qualifying for Saturday’s semifinals in the event along with their teammates were juniors Rushell Harvey (7.50) and Nataliyah Friar (7.50), sophomore Aleia Hobbs (7.51) and freshmen Rachel Misher (7.53) and Shayna Yon (7.53).
Friar also highlighted Friday’s field events at the Albuquerque Convention Center as she jumped a series-best of 20-7 in the final round for fourth place in the women’s long jump. Sophomore Da’Quan Bellard posted a best jump of the day at 23-7 ½ in the first round to finish in 10th place in the men’s long jump competition.
Saturday’s finale at the New Mexico Collegiate Classic picks up at 11:30 a.m. CT with the first field events on the day followed by the first semifinal races on the track at 11:45 a.m. The Tigers and Lady Tigers will then line up in their first finals of the afternoon at 1:30 p.m., while the meet runs through 4 p.m. with the men’s and women’s 4×400-meter relays.