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Wales Medals on Day 2 at SEC OutdoorsWales Medals on Day 2 at SEC Outdoors

Wales Medals on Day 2 at SEC Outdoors

Wales Medals on Day 2 at SEC Outdoors

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Reigning SEC javelin champion Rebekah Wales sat fourth in the standings with just one throw to go in her title defense on Friday afternoon, but took home All-SEC honors for the second-straight season when she let fly a personal best of 180 feet, 7 inches in the final round to move up a spot and win the bronze medal.

Wales eclipsed the 180-foot mark for the first time in her collegiate career to give the Lady Tigers their first points at the 2016 SEC Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Alabama’s Sam Bailey Stadium.

After advancing to the final in fourth place with a throw of 173-9 in the second round of qualifying, Wales held her position with throws of 169-11 in the fourth round and 172-7 in the fifth round of the final. She faced a sixth and final throw hoping to return to the medal podium just one year after being crowned the SEC Champion in the event with a winning throw of 177-0 as a sophomore last spring.

Wales sweated out a fair throw just inside the left boundary of the sector on her final attempt and watched as her lifetime best of 180-7 flashed across the scoreboard to move her into third place ahead of Texas A&M standout Audrey Malone (179-0). It took an SEC Outdoor meet record of 195-2 by Texas A&M’s Maggie Malone and a second-place throw of 189-8 by Florida’s Marija Vucenovic to dethrone Wales in the event.

“I can’t complain with a PR,” Wales said when speaking to the media after the event. “I didn’t even think it went that far when I threw it. I didn’t know really until they showed it on the screen. I was disappointed there at first, then it showed that and I said, ‘Wow!’ The conditions weren’t bad. There was a good headwind, so I’m glad I could take advantage of that.”

Wales, who already held the No. 2 spot on LSU’s all-time performance list in the event with her previous PR of 179-11 from last season, became the first Lady Tiger since Laverne Eve in 1988 to eclipse 180 feet.

The West Monroe native put the Lady Tigers on the scoreboard for the first time at these SEC Championships with six points thanks to her medal-winning performance. Senior Annie Simoneaux nearly added to it while making her final appearance at the SEC Championships as she threw a series best of 160-3 in the second round for 10th place overall.

The Tigers and Lady Tigers enjoyed another strong day of prelim qualifying on Friday as they combined for another 12 finalists on the track after opening with a total of 10 finals qualifiers on Thursday.

The sprint hurdles took center stage as the SEC Network+ opened its coverage of the championship at 6:30 p.m. CT with the evening’s first prelim races. SEC Indoor Champion and All-American Mikiah Brisco first set an impressive wind-legal personal best of 13.10 seconds (+0.4) to finish runner-up in the first heat and fourth overall in the women’s 100-meter hurdles. Junior Jordan Moore followed as the fastest qualifier for the men’s 110 hurdles with a wind-legal 13.72 (-0.6) to win the second preliminary heat.

“I feel like I’m all the way back. We were just being extra cautious (racing only two other times this outdoor season), but we’ve been training heavily the past three weeks,” Moore said of a minor hamstring injury from earlier in the season. “Tomorrow, I expect something major. It wasn’t a great prelim, but I got through. It was probably one of my worst races ever, but it got me through.”

Brisco later led a quartet of Lady Tigers advancing to the final of the women’s 100-meter dash as her heat-winning 11.34 (+0.8) for the second heat was the third-fastest time among the nine finalists. Junior Jada Martin opened with a win in the first heat in 11.44 (+0.4), while freshman Kortnei Johnson (11.36) and junior Rushell Harvey (11.40) both advanced to their first SEC final in the event with a 3-5 finish in the third heat.

Junior Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake was the top qualifier in the men’s 200 meters on Thursday with a wind-legal personal best of 20.31 (+1.3) while running in the first preliminary heat. He opened qualifying once again for the 100 meters on Friday and turned in the quickest time of the night at 10.30 (-0.2) to beat junior teammate Renard Howell (10.47) to the finish line. Howell’s PR of 10.47 earned him an 11th-place finish overall.

Junior Tremayne Acy ran his first 100-meter race of the season in the following heat and crossed the finish line in second place with the sixth-fastest time of the prelims at 10.36 (-0.1) to join Mitchell-Blake in the final.

Junior Blair Henderson qualified for his second SEC final of the weekend with a strong run in the first heat of the men’s 1,500 meters after already advancing in the 800 meters on Thursday afternoon. Henderson closed strong down the stretch as he came from well back in fourth place with 200 meters to go to overtake Ole Miss’ Ryan Manahan and grab the third automatic qualifying spot from the first heat.

Henderson, who ran 1:47.86 to qualify for his first SEC Outdoor final in the 800 meters, will also make his first finals appearance in the 1,500 meters after running 3:47.77 for the seventh-fastest time of the day.

Two Tigers later advanced to the final in the men’s 400-meter dash as heat winners as junior Michael Cherry cruised to an easy win in the third section in 45.63 and senior Fitzroy Dunkley followed with an easy victory in the fourth and final section in 45.96. Cherry’s 45.63 was the third-fastest time of the night, while Dunkley’s 45.96 was the seventh-fastest time overall and fourth-fastest among the heat winners.

Freshman Rachel Misher ran her first collegiate 400 meters in the first heat of the women’s prelim and powered through the finish line in an impressive 53.08 to finish runner-up to Arkansas’ Taylor Ellis-Watson (52.34). With only heat winners earning automatic qualification into the final, Misher held up through six heats as the ninth and final qualifier into her first career SEC event final.

“We sort of built on what we did here yesterday and carried that momentum into another great day of qualifying today,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “We’ve given ourselves a great opportunity to finish strong here tomorrow, and that’s about all we can ask of our athletes in any championship meet.”

Junior Christian Johnson wrapped up Friday’s action by running a big six-second PR in the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase as he placed 13th overall in the one-section final with a lifetime best of 9:09.12, eclipsing his previous PR of 9:15.74 set at the LSU Invitational two weeks ago.

Reigning SEC Outdoor Silver Medalist Nataliyah Friar finished just outside the scoring positions in the women’s long jump final as she opened Friday’s events with a ninth-place finish in the event. Friar twice jumped 20-4 ¼ in the competition as she followed a wind-aided attempt in the third round with a wind-legal jump in the sixth and final round of the event.

Like Friar, senior Terry Hughes came up just short of adding to the Tigers’ point total at this year’s SEC Outdoor Championships as he threw 199-3 for a career-best 10th-place finish in men’s javelin qualifying.

Saturday’s finale at the 2016 SEC Outdoor Track & Field Championships will get underway for LSU’s teams at 11 a.m. CT in the field events followed by the first finals on the track at 3 p.m. Fans can watch the final day on the SEC Network+ beginning at 3 p.m. as coverage will be available online at ESPN3.com and using the WatchESPN app on all smartphones and tablet devices.