FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – LSU sprinter Peta-Gaye Dowdie is all too familiar with heartbreak at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
A year ago she false started in the 60-meter dash after running the fastest time in the preliminary round. In Friday evening’s 200-meter final her left calf cramped up 10 meters out of the blocks and she quickly fell to the ground, less than 90 minutes after running the fastest time in the nation and blowing away the competition in the preliminary round.
Dowdie’s, who qualified for Saturday’s 60-meter final as well earlier in the day, will be evaluated in the morning and she still may be able to run in the short sprint final.
The injury to Dowdie was a down note to an otherwise near flawless day for both LSU teams. Joyce Bates finished second in the 60-meter hurdles, as did Monique Freeman in the long jump. Marcus Thomas finished fourth in the long jump, while both teams advanced well on the track.
The Lady Tigers find themselves in fifth place with 16 points, while the Tigers are in 19th in the men’s competition and have a bulk of their finalists competing tomorrow.
“We did almost everything we could have today,” said LSU head coach Pat Henry. “We had some people really step it up. Joyce and Monique were phenomenal. It’s tough for Peta-Gaye to have that happen to her because there’s nobody in the nation that can touch her at that distance. We’ll take a look at her tomorrow and see how she feels, but overall, we had a very productive day.”
Bates broke her own school record in the 60-meter hurdles, finishing second in 7.99, the first sub-eight second time in school history. The time was the third fastest in NCAA history. The 1999 NCAA champion in the event, Bates narrowly missed becoming the first woman to win back-to-back titles in the event since 1988.
Vonette Dixon of Auburn broke the NCAA record with her winning time of 7.94, besting the previous record of 7.98 by Michelle Freeman of Florida in 1992.
Dixon got out of the blocks well ahead of anyone in the field. Bates exploded from the 20-meter mark to the finish, just missing Dixon at the finish line.
Bates’ finish extended a string of All-Americans in the event for the Lady Tigers dating back to 1986.
For Freeman it was vindication for a very difficult year. After finishing 10th in the long jump at the SEC Indoor Championships two weeks ago, the senior All-American moved from seventh to second on her final jump.
Freeman’s mark of 21 feet 4 3/4 inches matched Keyon Soley of UCLA. Soley was crowned the champion based on a better second jump, but the Lady Tigers still picked up eight critical points.
“I’m speechless right now,” said Freeman, who finished fourth at this meet a year ago. “I’ve been focusing on my runway approach and I finally relaxed and put it all together on that last jump. This season was a test of my inner strength and to have this happen is very gratifying.”
Sa’Donna Thornton made a significant breakthrough in the 60-meter dash, advancing to the final with the fastest preliminary time, a personal best time of 7.25. Her previous personal best was 7.36. Thornton won the first heat, while Dowdie easily won the third heat in a time of 7.29.
While Bates Freeman and Thornton came up big in the end on day one of the NCAA Indoor Championships, it was an inauspicious start for LSU. The Lady Tigers’ national title hopes took a significant blow in the very first race of the day on the track.
Claudine Williams continued her recent struggles, failing to advance in the women’s 800-meter run. The 1999 NCAA Indoor runner-up was in the middle of the pack at the 500 meter mark, but faded over the final 300 meters and finished last in her heat.
Despite the Lady Tigers’ mishaps in the 200 and 800, they are still very alive in the team race. UCLA leads the competition with 29 points and will likely score heavily on Saturday in the shot put.
Host Arkansas finds itself in sixth place after one day, but in good position to score a significant number of points in the distance events on Saturday. South Carolina is third after one day and should score highly in the 400 and 4×400 meter relays, but may have taken themselves out of the team race by failing to qualify anyone in the 60-meter dash or 60-meter hurdles.
While Arkansas holds a firm grip on the men’s team competition, the Tigers were solid in limited action on day one. Marcus Thomas earned his first indoor All-American honor and his first long jump All-American honor with a fourth place finish in the long jump. With a jump of 25-11 1/2, Thomas became the Tigers’ first All-American in the event since Mike Alridge placed fourth in 1997.
Tomorrow afternoon Thomas will try to become the first LSU man to earn All-American honors indoors in both the long and triple jumps. Thomas has scored at the NCAA Outdoor meet in the triple jump each of the previous two years.
Derrick Brew regained the 400-meter school record he surrendered to teammate Lueroy Colquhoun at the SEC Indoor Championships two weeks ago. Brew ran the second fastest qualifying time in the preliminary rounds, clocking an indoor personal best time of 46.12.
Brandon Couts of Baylor broke the five-year-old NCAA record in the event with a time of 45.60.
LSU also qualified Colquhoun for tomorrow evening’s final. Colquhoun finished second in his heat with the second fastest time of his career, a 46.44 that will seed him seventh for tomorrow’s final.
It marks the first time since 1989 that the Tigers will have two men in a final on the track at the NCAA Indoor meet.
J.J. Barton’s NCAA frustrations continued, however, as the senior high jumper no heighted at his second consecutive national meet. Barton entered at 6-11 1/2, but failed to negotiate the height.
NCAA Indoor Championships
Randal Tyson Track Center
Fayetteville, Ark.
Day One Results
Men’s Results
Team Scores (Top 10) 1, Arkansas, 34.50. 2, Florida, 23. 3, Stanford, 21. 4, Alabama, 18. 5, SMU, 14. 6, Clemson, 11. 7 (tie), Texas, South Alabama, South Carolina, 10. 10 (tie), George Mason, Tennessee, Arizona State, 9. 19, LSU, 5.
Track Events
200-meter dash- 1, Shawn Crawford, Clemson, 20.26. 2, John Capel, Florida, 20.26. 3, Kim Collins, TCU, 20.52. 4, Leonard Scott, Tennessee, 20.55. 5, Coby Miller, Auburn, 20.61.
5,000-meter run- 1, David Kimani, South Alabama, 13:52.58. 2, Brent Hauser, Stanford, 13:54.27. 3, Matthew Lane, William & Mary, 13:57.29. 4, Stetson Steele, Iowa, 14:04.77. 5, Steve Lawrence, Michigan, 14:05.21. 6, Jason Balkman, Stanford, 14:06.04.
60-meter hurdles- 1, Terrence Trammell, South Carolina, 7.55. 2, Aubrey Herring, Indiana State, 7.64. 3, Ron Bramlett, Alabama, 7.72. 4, Maurice Wignall, George Mason, 7.72. 5, Ron Andrews, Kent State, 7.77. 6, Stephen Jones, Florida, 7.85.
Distance Medley Relay- 1, Stanford, 9:28.83. 2, Alabama, 9:30.10. 3, Arkansas, 9:33.31. 4, Connecticut, 9:33.85. 5, Tennessee, 9:35.24. 6, Notre Dame, 9:38.82.
Field Events
Shot Put- 1, Janus Robberts, SMU, 65-1 1/4. 2, Joachim Olsen, Idaho, 64-8 3/4. 3, Marcus Clavelle, Arkansas, 63-6 3/4. 4, Jim Roberts, BYU, 63-6 1/4. 5, Ian Waltz, Washington State, 62-5 3/4. 6, Jamie Beyer, Iowa State, 61-10 1/2.
High Jump- 1, Mark Boswell, Texas, 7-7 3/4. 2, Kenny Evans, Arkansas, 7-7. 3, Charles Clinger, Weber State, 7-5. 4, David Furman, Florida, 7-5. 5, Mustapha Raifak, SMU, 7-3 3/4. 6 (tie), Lavar Miller, Arkansas, Nick Decker, Houston, 7-2 1/2.
Long Jump- 1, Melvin Lister, Arkansas, 26-8 1/2. 2, Dwight Phillips, Arizona State, 26-7 1/4. 3, Maurice Lewis, Florida, 26-2 1/2. 4, Marcus Thomas, LSU, 25-11 1/2. 5, Maurice Wignall, George Mason, 25-6. 6, Jeremy Taylor, Alabama, 25-6.
Women’s Results
Team Scores (Top 10) 1, UCLA, 29. 2, BYU, 22. 3, South Carolina, 21. 4, Kansas State, 17. 5, LSU, 16. 6, Arkansas, 15.
Track Events
200-meter dash- 1, Mikele Barber, South Carolina, 23.06. 2, Debbie Dunn, Norfolk State, 23.22. 3, Me’Lissa Barber, South Carolina, 23.30. 4, Donica Merriman, Ohio State, 23.50. 5, Teneeshia Jones, Ole Miss, 23.53. 6, Demetria Washington, 23.60.
5,000-meter run- 1, Amy Yoder, Arkansas, 15:46.89. 2, Carrie Tollefson, Villanova, 15:51.39. 3, Elizabeth Jackson, BYU, 15:56.83. 4, Leigh Daniel, Texas Tech, 15:59.65. 5, Tara Chaplin, Arizona, 16:03.21. 6, Maria-Elena Calle, Virgina Commonwealth, 16:12.58.
60-meter hurdles- 1, Vonette Dixon, Auburn, 7.94. 2, Joyce Bates, LSU, 7.99. 3, Donica Merriman, Ohio State, 8.06. 4, Nicole Hoxie, Texas, 8.11. 5, Jenny Adams, Houston, 8.15. 6, Charmaine Walker, Villanova, 8.17.
Distance Medley Relay- 1, Stanford, 11:01.56. 2, BYU, 11:11.45. 3, Kansas State, 11:12.45. 4, Arkansas, 11:13.72. 5, Georgetown, 11:14.03. 6, Rice, 11:15.70.
Field Events
Long Jump- 1, Keyon Soley, UCLA, 21-4 3/4. 2, Monique Freeman, LSU, 21-4 3/4. 3, Kirstin Bolm, BYU, 21-4. 4, Alice Falaiye, Rice, 21-2 1/2. 5, Jenny Adams, Houston, 20-11 1/4. 6, Valerie Williams, Arizona State, 20-10 1/2.
Pole Vault- 1, Tracy O’Hara, UCLA, 14-6. 2, Erin Anderson, Kansas State, 13-5 1/4. 3, Paula Serrano, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, 13-5 1/4.
20-lb. Weight Throw- 1, Florence Ezeh, SMU, 69-11 1/2. 2, Seilala Sua, UCLA, 69-0. 3, Robin Lyons, Wyoming, 67-11 1/2. 4, Carrie Myers, Indiana State, 67-1 1/4. 5, Meshell Trotter, Texas A&M, 63-6. 6, Anna Whitham, Kansas State, 62-10.