KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Despite threat of ensuing lightning and thunder storms that would eventually delay competition for nearly three hours junior John Moffitt squeezed in all six of his long jumps attempts en route to winning the conference title Saturday at the SEC Outdoor Championships here at Tom Black Track.
Sitting in a tie for second with one jump left to go, Moffitt turned in his second-best jump of the season, 25-10, on his final attempt to outdistance the field and come away with his second SEC long jump title this year.
Moffitt already won the indoor conference title earlier this season at Florida, making him just the third LSU athlete to ever sweep the conference’s long jump titles in a single season. Former LSU great Walter Davis accomplished the feat in 2001 and Tommy Dukes also did so in 1957.
Junior LeJuan Simon also recorded points for the Tigers in the long jump, placing sixth with a mark of 24-8 1/2.
In the women’s long jump, LSU’s LaToya Payne scored for the Lady Tigers finishing fifth overall with a distance of 20-5.
Other point scorer’s for LSU on the third day of competition included Matt Vincent in the shot put and Daniel Trosclair in the pole vault. Vincent had an outstanding showing, posting a season best effort of 53-6 1/2 to place fourth overall, while Trosclair also recorded a fourth-place finish, clearing 16-10 3/4.
In preliminary round action, LSU advanced an additional seven athletes into Sunday’s competition. The Lady Tigers dominated the 100-meter hurdles as RaNysha LeBlanc and Lolo Jones advanced with the top two qualifying times and Zamyal Jackson snuck into the finals in the No. 8 position.
Despite cold, wet conditions LeBlanc ran her top non-winded-aided time of the season (13.27) and Jones followed closely behind clocking 13.29.
“I’m surprised, I wasn’t expecting to qualify in with the top time,” said LeBlanc. “Coach (Dennis) Shaver just told me that with conditions the way they were to treat each prelim like the finals. I just concentrated on staying forward and getting after it.”
The Lady Tigers definitely got after it in the sprints, qualifying both Hazelann Regis and Nadia Davy in the 400 meter finals and Muna Lee into the 100-meter dash finals.
Regis and Davy advanced with the field’s second (52.11) and sixth (53.88) fastest times, respectively, while Lee, the NCAA’s leader in the 100-meter dash, easily topped the competition with her time of 11.21.
On the men’s side, Pete Coley will have second shot in the open quarter Sunday, advancing to the finals with a regional qualifying time of 46.56. All-American Kelly Willie just missed the 46.64 cut off in the event, placing ninth with a time of 46.65.
At the conclusion of third day of competition, with seven events scored in both the men’s and women’s meets, Florida is pacing the women’s competition (69 points) and Arkansas is leading the men’s race (51 points).
Heading into the final day of the SEC Championships, LSU sits in fifth in the men’s competition (23 points) and 10th in the women’s meet (6 points).
LSU will wrap up competition from the SEC Outdoor Championships tomorrow, May 18. Competition in the field events will begin at 1:30 p.m. (CST) and running events will follow at 5 p.m.
TEAM STANDINGS
Women (through seven events)
1, Florida, 69. 2, Arkansas, 58. 3, Georgia, 35. 4, Kentucky, 26. 5, Auburn, 26. 6, Alabama, 14. 7, Vanderbilt, 13. 8, South Carolina, 12. 9, Tennessee, 10. 10, LSU, 6. 11, Mississippi, 2. 11, Mississippi State, 2.
Men (through seven events)
1, Arkansas, 51. 2, Georgia, 48. 3, Tennessee, 40. 4, Auburn, 35. 5, Florida, 23. 5, LSU, 23. 7, South Carolina, 18. 8, Alabama, 15. 9, Mississippi, 7. 9, Kentucky, 7. 11, Mississippi State, 6.