IOWA CITY, Iowa – After the first day of the second annual Larry Wieczorek Invitational, the LSU men’s track and field team is sitting in first place in the team standings with 52 points thanks to several strong performances throughout the day. The women’s squad is in fifth place with 31 points.
Starting the day in the field events, freshman Jake Norris recorded a personal-best mark of 63′ 10.5” in the men’s weight throw. Norris eclipsed his previous best by more than three feet. Fellow rookie JuVaughn Blake had a second-straight solid outing as he placed second in the men’s high jump with a mark of 6′ 10.75”.
In the women’s high jump, all three Lady Tigers, Abby O’Donoghue, Kaitlyn Walker and Briana Kelly, notched seasonal-best marks. Walker’s performance gave her a personal-best mark of 5′ 8.75”, earning seventh-place, while O’Donoghue placed third with a height of 5′ 8.75”.
Senior Da’Quan Bellard captured a personal-best of his own in the men’s long jump with a mark of 24′ 7”, and freshman Kyndal McKnight made her collegiate long jump debut, finishing at 16′ 1.5”.
The Lady Tigers took home the top-two spots in the 3000-meter as senior Ashley Welborn and freshmen Alicia Stamey placed first and second respectively. Welborn recorded her event-winning time of 10:23.29 in her first 3000m race this indoor season.
The Lady Tigers placed third through seventh in the women’s 200-meter premier race. In her 200-meter season debut, senior Aleia Hobbs set a personal-best at 23.90 seconds while finishing in fourth-place. Kortnei Johnson was the top LSU finisher in third place with a time of 23.87.
Earlier in the meet, freshman Milan Young set a then-meet record in the women’s 200-meter with a time of 24.40 seconds. Sophomore Brittley Humphrey set a personal-best in the same event, recording a time of 24.64 seconds, and Shayna Yon set a seasonal-best of 24.55.
Junior Correion Mosby and sophomore Akanni Hislop respectively set personal and seasonal-bests in the men’s 200-meter premier. Mosby came in third-place, and he shaved .04 seconds off of his previous top mark. Hislop came in at 21.47 seconds, improving from his 21.66 seconds at the Corky Classic last weekend. Jaron Flournoy had the best time of the meet for the Tigers of 21.11, the top collegian finisher in the distance. Junior Christian Boyd clocked in at 22.14 seconds, a new personal-high.
Day Two
Saturday’s finale at the Larry Wieczorek Invitational is scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m. CT. The Tigers’ first event is set for 2:30 p.m. as the men take to the track in the 400-meter. The women’s 60-meter hurdles prelims will begin shortly after at 2:45 p.m. and the meet will conclude with the 4×400 relays starting at 6:40 p.m.