AUSTIN, Texas — The LSU track and field got off to a quick start Friday at the USTCA National Championships at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin, Texas, as both teams advanced well toward Saturday’s finals, while Peta-Gaye Dowdie clocked the fastest times in both the 100 and 200-meter dashes.
In one of the few finals of the day, Likhaya Dayile finished second in the men’s 5,000-meter run, as the Tigers find themselves tied with Southern California for second behind Nebraska after day one.
UCLA leads the women’s competition followed by Nebraska, Texas and Washington State. LSU did not have any scoring opportunities on Friday in the women’s competition.
“We had some very good efforts on both sides tonight, I thought we were able to advance well in most of the areas we expected to,” said LSU head coach Pat Henry. “We’re in position to do some things tomorrow afternoon now, so we’ll rest tonight and get after it tomorrow.”
Dayile ran the fastest time by a Tigers in the 5,000-meter run since 1997, finishing second with a
season-best time of 14:26.91, 21 seconds faster than his previous best time this season. Scott Lengefeld of Texas A&M won the event in 14:18.59, breaking the stadium record, a mark Dayile passed as well in his second place finish.
Dowdie blew away the field in the preliminary heats of the 200, making up the stagger by the end of the opening curve then shutting down with 40 meters to go en route to an NCAA provisional time of 23.14. Myra Combs also advanced to Saturday’s final, grabbing the final qualifying spot with a time of 24.13
Dowdie also ran the fastest qualifying time in the 100-meter dash preliminary round, posting an 11.30. With the 4×100-meter relay and 200-meter final Saturday afternoon, Dowdie will not run in the 100-meter final, however. With only two athletes per team allowed to score in each event, Henry declared Valma Bass and Sa’Donna Thornton as his two eligible scorers in the 100-meter dash prior to the meet and both advanced to Saturday afternoon’s final with times of 11.60 and 11.65 respectively.
Joyce Bates and April Sams looked sharp in preliminary action in the women’s 100-meter hurdles on Friday evening. Bates, who won the Texas Relays title on the same track two weeks ago, blasted out of the blocks to a slightly windy 13.02 to win her heat in convincing fashion.
Sams, a junior from Mandeville, La., demonstrated how far she has come, winning the second heat of the preliminary round in a time of 13.39 while defeating Jenny Adams of Houston, a fifth place finisher at the NCAA Outdoor Championships last year, in the process.
Moments later Greg Scott capped off a productive evening for the LSU hurdling crew, winning his heat of the 110-meter hurdles to advance to Saturday’s final with a time of 13.98.
Derrick Brew and Deryell Patterson both advanced to Saturday’s men’s 200-meter dash final. Brew won his heat in a time of 20.95, while Patterson finished fourth in his heat, yet ran an identical time to Brew to grab the second-to-last spot in the final.
The Tigers got a lift from their distance corps, as Frans Schimper won his heat of the 1,500-meter run with a time of 3:51.10. The time was the second fastest overall in Friday’s preliminary round and qualified him for Saturday’s final.
Others to advance Friday evening included Claudine Williams, who finished second in her heat of the 400-meter dash with a time of 53.81 and Althea Thomas in the 400-meter hurdles, who advanced to the final with a time of 1:00.84.
The Tigers picked up points in the field Friday in the only two field events finals competed. Javier Nieto finished fourth in the hammer throw with a toss of 216-2, while Blake Theriot finished sixth in the javelin
The USTCA National Championships continue Saturday afternoon with finals in a majority of both the running and field events.
USTCA National Championships
Day One Results
April 21, 2000
Mike A. Myers Stadium
Austin, Texas
Men’s Results
Team Scores- 1, Nebraska, 24. 2 (tie), LSU, Southern California, 16. 4, Washington State, 15. 5, Texas, 11. 6, Texas A&M, 10. 7 (tie), UCLA, Texas-El Paso, 8. 9, Tennessee, 6. 10, Florida, 2.
Track Events
5,000-meter run- 1, Scott Lengefeld, Texas A&M, 14:18.59. 2, Likhaya Dayile, LSU, 14:26.91. 3, Marcus Witter, Nebraska, 14:34.10. 4, Ben Dawson, Texas, 14:35.10. 5, Jason Muriby, Texas, 14:43.71. 6, Paul Muite, UCLA, 14:44.11.
Field Events
Javelin- 1, Bryan Jones, Washington State, 223-10. 2, Cory Lehman, Nebraska, 220-1. 3, Toby Colyer, Tennessee, 215-1. 4, Zach Josephson, Nebraska, 214-0. 5, Nate Marum, UCLA, 213-8. 6, Blake Theriot, LSU, 209-0.
Hammer Throw- 1, Szabloes Maroti, Southern California, 224-0. 2, Janne Vartia, Texas-El Paso, 222-5. 3, Norbert Harvath, Southern California, 221-0. 4, Javier Nieto, LSU, 216-2. 5, B.J. Schade, Washington State, 195-8.
Women’s Results
Team Scores- 1, UCLA, 26. 2, Nebraska, 20. 3, Texas, 18. 4, Washington State, 10. 5, Texas-El
Paso, 8. 6, Texas A&M, 7. 7, South Carolina, 6. 8 (tie), Southern California, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, 5. 10 (tie), Kansas State, Fresno State, Purdue, 4.
Track Events
5,000-meter run- 1, Maureen Sweeney, Texas, 16:49.33. 2, Courtney Lancashire, Texas, 16:49.36. 3, Ryan Gilmore, Washington State, 17:02.78. 4, Elaine Canchola, UCLA, 17:07.58. 5, Teresa Kamleiter, Purdue, 17:12.29. 6, Jessica Matthews, UCLA, 17:12.90.
Field Events
Javelin- 1, Cassi Morelock, Nebraska, 181-0. 2, Angeli Tsiolakoudi, Texas-El Paso, 179-6. 3, Katy Doyle, Texas A&M, 176-6. 4, Candy Mitchell, South Carolina, 168-2. 5, Kayla Russum, Fresno State, 151-1. 6, Molly Monroe, Washington State, 149-0.
Shot Put- 1, Seilala Sua, UCLA, 54-8. 2, Christina Tolson, UCLA, 51-7 3/4. 3, Leann Boerema, Nebraska, 50-0 +. 4, Cynthia Ademiluyi, Southern California, 49-5 +. 5, Brandy Trofholz, Nebraska, 48-1 1/4. 6, Kristin Bryden, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, 48-0 +..