BATON ROUGE- The outdoor season arrived just in time for the LSU track and field team.
Throughout the course of the indoor season LSU was methodically productive but never had a break out meet. Now in the second week of the outdoor season, LSU finally got that performance, as the women’s team won the team title and the men finished second at the U.S. Collegiate Series at Bernie Moore Track Stadium Saturday afternoon.
The Tigers and Lady Tigers combined to register 15 NCAA qualifying marks – three automatic and 12 provisionals.
“We had a tremendous day today,” said LSU head coach Pat Henry. “The weather, the facility and the level of competition were extremely conducive for a great meet and that’s what this was. I think it’s needless to say we were excited to get our outdoor season going and this is a great way to really open things up.”
The Lady Tigers clinched victory in the final event of the competition, as the 4×400-meter relay team of Althea Thomas, Claudine Williams, Peta-Gaye Dowdie and Valma Bass rallied LSU from a two-point deficit.
The Lady Tigers trailed Texas A&M heading into the final event, but ran an NCAA provisional time of 3:36.79 to win, while the Texas A&M finished third in the event. The Lady Tigers finished with 191 points to 189 for the Aggies. Oklahoma finished third in the team competition, followed by TCU.
The Tigers came up one point short of Texas A&M and nearly rallied in the final event of the competition. Carlos Garcia, Lueroy Colquhoun, Wynand Dempers and Derrick Brew finished third in the mile relay with an NCAA provisional time of 3:06.16, but a second place finish by the Aggies gave them the team title.
Texas A&M finished with 190 points to 189 for the Tigers. Oklahoma finished third followed by TCU.
Two weeks after finishing as the NCAA Indoor runner-up in the long jump, Monique Freeman opened her outdoor season in much the same fashion, winning her signature event with an NCAA automatic qualifying mark of 21-3 1/2. The mark was only 3/4 of an inch off the mark that earned her second place at the national meet two weeks ago.
NCAA 60-meter hurdles runner-up Joyce Bates got her 2000 outdoor season off to a quick start Saturday afternoon, opening up with a blazing NCAA automatic qualifying time of 13.08 to win the women’s 100-meter hurdle title.
The Lady Tigers third automatic qualifier came from NCAA Indoor triple jump champion Keisha Spencer, who won the event with an outdoor personal best jump of 44-8 1/4. Teammate Bianca Rockett was second with a provisional qualifying mark of 41-8 3/4.
Both teams looked strong in the short relays, particularly the Lady Tigers, who won the event in an NCAA provisional time of 44.42. The Tigers finished second in the men’s short relay behind TCU, who ran an eye-popping automatic time of 39.02 to the provisional 39.71 registered by LSU.
Brew held off a world class 400-meter field to pick up the victory in a provisional time of 45.77. Brew ran strong through the first 200 meters, then ate up the final curve and cruised home to victory.
Marcus Thomas, who finished fourth in both the triple and long jumps at the NCAA Indoor Championships two weeks ago, finished second in both events Saturday and earned provisional qualifiers in both events, jumping 51-11 1/4 and 25-2 3/4 respectively.
Javier Nieto got the Tigers started off on the right foot in the first event of the competition, winning the hammer title with an NCAA provisional qualifying throw of 210-11.
Blake Theriot then finished second in the javelin moments later, just missing an NCAA provisional mark with a personal best throw of 220-7, a PR by more than seven feet. The throw was the fifth best in school history.
Other provisional qualifiers for the Tigers on Saturday were Carlos Garcia in the 100-meter dash, Greg Scott in the 110-meter hurdles and Alex Forst in the discus.
Frans Schimper didn’t register an NCAA qualifier, but looked extremely sharp, besting his personal best time in the 1,500-meter run by nearly five seconds, picking up the victory in a time of 3:45.39.
Other winners for LSU on Saturday included Williams in the women’s 800-meter run, Christian Nehme in the shot put and Likhaya Dayile in the men’s 5,000-meter run.
LSU returns to action on Saturday when both teams travel to Los Angeles for a star-studded competition at venerable Cromwell Field, as Southern California, Nebraska and North Carolina are the opponents at the USC Invitational.
U.S. Collegiate Track & Field Series Meet
March 25, 2000
Bernie Moore Track Stadium
Baton Rouge, LA
Men’s Results
Team Scores- 1, Texas A&M 190. 2, LSU, 189. 3, Oklahoma, 128. 4, TCU, 123.
Track Events
100-meter dash- 1, Lindel Frater, TCU, 10.17. 2, Kim Collins, TCU, 10.20. 3, Brandon Evans, Texas A&M, 10.22. 4, Carlos Garcia, LSU, 10.31. 5, Dwhyte Barrett, LSU, 10.51. 6, Ernest Lewis, Oklahoma, 10.62.
200-meter dash- 1, Darvis Patton, TCU, 20.84. 2, Ricardo Williams, TCU, 21.17. 3, Anthony Amantine, TCU, 21.21. 4, Dwhyte Barrett, LSU, 21.53. 5, Wynand Dempers, LSU, 21.96. 6, Josh Ray, Texas A&M, 22.81.
400-meter dash- 1, Derrick Brew, 45.77. 2, Micheal Blackwood, Oklahoma, 45.86. 3, Roy Williams, TCU, 46.41. 4, Lueroy Colquhoun, 46.71. 5, Johnny Collins, TCU, 46.72. 6, Raoul Harvey, Oklahoma, 46.74.
800-meter run- 1, Mike Hummel, Texas A&M, 1:53.00. 2, Moses Washington, Oklahoma, 1:53.03. 3, Brent Martin, LSU, 1:54.10. 4, Travis Price, Texas A&M, 1:55.16. 5, Jason Sosa, Texas A&M, 1:55.40. 6, David Lagat, TCU, 1:56.90.
1,500-meter run- 1, Frans Schimper, LSU, 3:45.39. 2, Mike Hummel, Texas A&M, 3:53.07. 3, David Lagat, TCU, 3:53.83. 4, Jayme D’Agnolo, Texas A&M, 3:54.57. 5, Chris Lee, Texas A&M, 3:56.59. 6, Cordelle Seals, LSU, 3:57.64.
3,000-meter steeplechase- 1, Carl Stewart, Texas A&M, 9:24.36. 2, Kenny Henry, LSU, 9:29.58. 3, Byran Oubre, Texas A&M, 9:40.11. 4, Kyle Swift, Texas A&M, 9:41.74. 5, Cecil Rose, Oklahoma, 9:50.75. 6, Jared Pope, TCU, 9:52.05.
5,000-meter run- 1, Likhaya Dayile, LSU, 14:48.56. 2, Tommy Bonn, Texas A&M, 15:15.46. 3, Adrian Martinez, TCU, 15:27.26. 4, Brandon Beasley, Texas A&M, 16:00.96. 5, Cecil Rose, Oklahoma, 16:11.44. 6, Justin Pillsbury, TCU, 16:16.03.
110-meter hurdles- 1, Kris Allen, Texas A&M, 13.73. 2, Bashir Ramzy, Texas A&M, 13.85. 3, Greg Scott, 13.96. 4 (tie), Jonas Lusk, Oklahoma, Joey Scott, Oklahoma, 14.27. 6, Mark Hill, TCU, 14.60.
400-meter hurdles- 1, Travis McAshan, Texas A&M, 51.65. 2, Laboris Bean, Oklahoma, 52.26. 3, Joey Scott, Oklahoma, 52.57. 4, Jonas Lusk, Oklahoma, 53.32. 5, Mark Hill, TCU, 53.45. 6, Jason Maloy, Oklahoma, 58.49.
400-meter relay- 1, TCU, 39.02. 2, LSU, 39.71. 3, Oklahoma, 40.17. 4, Texas A&M, 40.54. 5, Oklahoma, 42.58.
1,600-meter relay- 1, TCU, 3:04.28. 2, Texas A&M, 3:05.15. 3, LSU, 3:06.16. 4, LSU “B”, 3:21.99.
Field Events
Long Jump- 1, Darvis Patton, TCU, 26-4 1/2. 2, Marcus Thomas, LSU, 25-2 3/4. 3, Dwhyte Barrett, LSU, 23-4. 4, Jason Howard, TCU, 23-2. 5, Josh Ray, Texas A&M, 22-11 3/4. 6, Brandel Lawrence, TCU, 22-7 1/4.
Triple Jump- 1, Bashir Ramzy, Texas A&M, 54-2 1/2. 2, Marcus Thomas, LSU, 51-11 1/4. 3, Brandon Evans, Texas A&M, 49-3 1/2. 4, Brandel Lawrence, 48-7 1/4. 5, Traun Smith, LSU, 48-5 1/2. 6, Matthew Tennison, Oklahoma, 44-1 1/4.
High Jump-1, J.J. Barton, LSU, 7-0 1/4. 2, Jason Howard, TCU, 6-8 3/4. 3, Claston Bernard, LSU, 6-6 3/4. 4, Shane Benton, Oklahoma, 6-4 3/4. 5, Joseph Butler, Oklahoma, 6-2 3/4. 6, Aaron Smith, Texas A&M, 6-2 3/4.
Pole Vault- 1, Michael Westlund, Oklahoma, 16-4 3/4. 2, John Bloom, Texas A&M, 15-5. 3, Michael McNamara, 15-5. 4, Chris Westfield, Oklahoma, 15-5. 5, Aaron Smith, 14-11.
Shot Put- 1, Christian Nehme, LSU, 54-9 1/2. 2, John Williams, LSU, 51-1. 3, Kyle Bookout, Oklahoma, 49-6 1/2. 4, Byron Dawson, LSU, 49-5 3/4. 5, Jake Boone, Texas A&M, 41-11 1/2. 6, Aaron Smith, Texas A&M, 41-8 1/2.
Discus- 1, Tolga Koseoglu, Texas A&M, 201-1. 2, Alex Forst, LSU, 186-10. 3, Christian Nehme, LSU, 169-6. 4, Kyle Bookout, Oklahoma, 164-0. 5, John Williams, LSU, 163-1. 6, Kyle Caskey, Texas A&M, 160-11.
Javelin- 1, Travis Grasha, Texas A&M, 222-4. 2, Blake Theriot, LSU, 220-7. 3, Keith Nunez, LSU, 181-10. 4, Charlie Adams, Texas A&M, 175-4. 5, Grant Schwabe, Oklahoma, 158-7. 6, Shane Benton, Oklahoma, 137-2.
Hammer Throw-1, Javier Nieto, LSU, 210-11. 2, Jason Jacob, Texas A&M, 177-00. 3, Paul Gardner, LSU, 166-2. 4, Brandon Dekock, Oklahoma, 155-6. 5, Travis Grasha, Texas A&M, 98-11.
Women’s Results
Team Scores- 1, LSU, 191. 2, Texas A&M, 189. 3, Oklahoma, 176.50. 4, TCU, 66.50.
Track Events
100-meter dash- 1, Staneshia Bell, Oklahoma, 11.70. 2, Sa’Donna Thornton, LSU, 11.72. 3 (tie), Latoyia Hinds, Oklahoma, Tiffany Starts, TCU, 12.09. 5, Jimyria Hicks, Oklahoma, 12.10. 6, Chenelle Marshall, LSU, 12.43.
200-meter dash- 1, Staneshia Bell, Oklahoma, 23.85. 2, April Sams, LSU, 24.10. 3, Jimyria Hicks, Oklahoma, 24.29. 4, Joyce Bates, LSU, 24.35. 5, Chanel Hewitt, TCU, 24.55. 6, Tiffany Starts, TCU, 24.78.
400-meter dash- 1, Jennifer Fontenot, Oklahoma, 53.45. 2, Myra Combs, LSU, 53.65. 3, Dywana Crudup, TCU, 54.20. 4, Valma Bass, LSU, 55.69. 5, Sabrina Edge, TCU, 57.54. 6, Somalia Lindsay, LSU, 58.02.
800-meter- 1, Claudine Williams, LSU, 2:07.55. 2, Andrea Bookout, Texas A&M, 2:15.93. 3, Aisha Stringer, Oklahoma, 2:16.05. 4, Jennifer Whatley, Texas A&M, 2:17.12. 5, Alaina Dearman, Oklahoma, 2:18.25. 6, Corrie Hussar, Oklahoma, 2:18.59.
1,500-meter run- 1, Andrea Bookout, Texas A&M, 4:32.64. 2, Angela Prescott, Oklahoma, 4:33.49. 3, Jennifer Whatley, Texas A&M, 4:35.22. 4, Susanne Strunz, LSU, 4:37.34. 5, Georgeanne Biancardi, TCU, 4:39.43. 6, Kristen Gutierrez, LSU, 4:40.53.
3,000-meter run- 1, Brooke Edwards, Texas A&M, 9:57.29. 2, Kaycie Waters, Texas A&M, 10:03.30. 3, Kristy Bonn, Texas A&M, 10:04.17. 4, Melissa Gulli, Texas A&M, 10:11.41. 5, Robin Schaobt, TCU, 10:17.81. 6, Staci Cusimano, LSU, 10:49.67.
5,000-meter run- 1, Katie Singleton, TCU, 17:33.69. 2, Lauren Crawford, Texas A&M, 18:08.63. 3, Leslie Bishop, Texas A&M, 18:59.06. 4, Sarah Harvey, Oklahoma, 19:28.21. 5, Allison Harvey, TCU, 19:34.52. 6, Shannon McKinney, TCU, 19:40.21.
100-meter hurdles- 1, Joyce Bates, 13.08. 2, Christina Ohaeri, Texas A&M, 13.52. 3, April Sams, LSU, 13.70. 4, Alesha Peel, Oklahoma, 14.12. 5, Kemi Nurudeen, Texas A&M, 14.57. 6, Lindsay Cobbs, Oklahoma, 15.48.
400-meter hurdles- 1, Christian Ohaeri, Texas A&M, 59.33. 2, Althea Thomas, LSU, 59.55. 3, Angeles Pantoja, Texas A&M, 59.96. 4, Carla Poole, TCU, 1:02.18. 5, Lindsay Cobbs, Oklahoma, 1:08.14. 6, Shayla Austin, Oklahoma, 1:12.27.
400-meter relay- 1, LSU “A”, 44.42. 2, TCU, 45.32. 3, LSU “B”, 45.56. 4, Oklahoma “B”, 46.10. 5, Texas A&M, 48.34.
1,600-meter relay- 1, LSU, 3:36.79. 2, TCU, 3:41.49. 3, Oklahoma, 3:42.93. 4, Texas A&M, 3:44.22. 5, Oklahoma “B”, 4:04.61.
Field Events
Long Jump- 1, Monique Freeman, LSU, 21-3 1/2. 2, Chenelle Marshall, LSU, 19-6. 3, Janel Hays, Oklahoma, 19-0. 4, Shayla Austin, Oklahoma, 5, Kemi Nurudeen, Texas A&M, 18-6. 6, Sande Swaby, Oklahoma, 18-3.
Triple Jump- 1, Keisha Spencer, LSU, 44-8 1/4. 2, Bianca Rockett, LSU, 41-11 1/4. 3, Kemi Nurudeen, Texas A&M, 38-11 3/4. 4, Shayla Austin, Oklahoma, 36-3. 5, Reagan Teague, Texas A&M, 35-5. 6, Lindsay Cobbs, 35-4 1/2.
High Jump- 1, Robyn Burhardt, Texas A&M, 5-8 1/2. 2, Amanda Whitlock, LSU, 5-6 1/2. 3, Sande Swaby, Oklahoma, 5-6 1/2. 4, Loren Leaverton, LSU, 5-4 1/2. 5, Megan Vogt, Texas A&M, 5-0 1/2.
Pole Vault-1, Erica Boren, Texas A&M, 10-11 3/4. 2, Lindsay Harris, Oklahoma, 10-6. 3, Sande Swaby, Oklahoma, 10-0. 4, Margaret Reeves, LSU, 10-0. 5, Julie Hardin, Texas A&M, 9-0 1/4.
Shot Put- 1, Bambi Carson, Oklahoma, 49-5 3/4. 2, Jessica Longfors, 45-5 1/4. 3, Jill Lipp, 44-4. 4, Megan Koonce, Texas A&M, 44-4. 5, Megan Crystal, Oklahoma, 42-1 1/4. 6, Meshell Trotter, Texas A&M, 41-9 1/4.
Discus- 1, Megan Koonce, Texas A&M, 164-7. 2, Bambi Carson, Oklahoma, 161-5. 3, Jessica Longfors, Oklahoma, 139-0. 4, Jill Lipp, LSU, 137-5. 5, Megan Crystal, Oklahoma, 131-9. 6, Meshell Trotter, 128-11.
Javelin- 1, Katherine Webster, Oklahoma, 143-3. 2, Megan Vogt, Texas A&M, 119-11. 3, Loren Leaverton, LSU, 106-7. 4, Lindsay Cobbs, Oklahoma, 85-1. 5, Amanda Reed, LSU, 80-10.
Hammer Throw-1, Meshell Trotter, Texas A&M, 182-2. 2, Terra Taylor, Texas A&M, 151-8. 3, Candice Gonzalez, LSU, 151-0. 4, Jennifer Wolfinger, LSU, 144-10. 5, Katherine Webster, Oklahoma, 137-2.