Baton Rouge, La. – Fifteen of LSU’s track and field athletes advanced from their finals on Friday night on the first day of the SEC Indoor Championships at the Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium. LSU scored points in the men’s long jump, women’s long jump, and men’s distance medley relay.
Live Results/Heat Sheets | Saturday Live Stream
After one day of competition, LSU is in eighth on the men’s side with 12 points, and the women are in 10th place with six points. Arkansas leads the men’s competition with 35 points after the first day, and the Arkansas women lead with 36 points. Even though the Tigers sit down in the standings after day one, they have the most finalists advanced from Friday qualifying. LSU will have a total of 20 scoring chances on the women’s side Saturday, and the men have 15 scoring opportunities.
Mercy Abire scored for LSU for the second straight season in the long jump. The senior from Nigeria leaped out to a mark of 20′ 11.75″ (6.39 meters) on her second attempt of the meet to give her the third-place finish and earn six points for the LSU women.
The men’s squad collected 12 points on day one via a sixth place finish in the men’s distance medley relay and the long jumping trio of JuVaughn Harrison, Rayvon Grey, and Jace Attuso racked up nine points. The men’s DMR of Davis Bove (3:00.14/1,200 meter split), Dorian Camel (47.09/400 meter split), TJ Bleichner (1:53.29/800 meter split), and Eric Coston (4:05.84/mile split) teamed up to run a time of 9:45.36 to place sixth in the event; the time was the eighth-fastest in LSU history.
Harrison registered a long jump of 25′ 9.50″ (7.86 meters) to place fourth in the long jump. Grey (24′ 10″/7.57 meters) and Attuso (24′ 0.25″/7.32 meters) rounded out the scoring in the men’s long jump for LSU with sixth and eighth-place finishes, respectively.
Amber Hart missed out on the finals in the shot put by one spot. She registered a personal best heave 49′ 11″ (15.21 meters) to rank No. 7 in LSU history and finish 10th overall.
Outside of that, it was a bunch of qualifying for the Tigers. The women had seven athletes advance to the finals in 10 races, and the men had eight athletes advance to the finals in 10 events. Those numbers rank highest amongst SEC teams as you can expect a push by the Tigers on day two of the conference meet.
LSU has three finalists in the women’s 60 meter hurdles, men’s 60 meter hurdles, men’s 200 meter dash, and women’s 60 meter dash. Akanni Hislop had himself a day in the 60 and 200 meter dash; the senior from Sou Sou Lands, Trinidad & Tobago, matched his personal best in the 60 meter dash with a qualifying time of 6.65, and registered a personal best of 20.76 in the 200 meters to qualify. Hislop is one of five LSU athletes that will be doubling up in finals on Saturday. Brittley Humphrey matched her career best of 8.09 seconds in the 60 meter hurdles to advance to Saturday’s final, and Symone Mason ran a PR of 23.18 in the 200 meters to advance.
On the women’s side, Tonea Marshall (60 meter dash/60 meter hurdles), Symone Mason (60 meter dash/200 meter dash), and Thelma Davies (60 meter dash/200 meter dash) will all be pulling double duty, and men’s sprinter Terrance Laird will be running in the finals of both the 60 and 200 meters. A full list of finalists for Saturday can be viewed below.
Saturday Finalists (All Times CT)
Men’s High Jump (1:15 p.m.) – JuVaughn Harrison
Women’s High Jump (1:15 p.m.) – Nyagoa Bayak, Abby O’Donoghue
Men’s Weight Throw (2 p.m.) – Jake Norris
Women’s Triple Jump (3:30 p.m.) – Mercy Abire, Kyndal McKnight
Women’s Pole Vault (4 p.m.) – Lisa Gunnarsson
Men’s Mile (4:10 p.m.) – Davis Bove
Women’s Weight Throw (4:30 p.m.) – Emma Robbins
Men’s Triple Jump (4:30 p.m.) – Christian Miller
Men’s 60 Meters (4:30 p.m.) – Akanni Hislop, Terrance Laird
Women’s 60 Meters (4:35 p.m.) – Thelma Davies, Tonea Marshall, Symone Mason
Men’s 400 Meters (4:40 p.m.) – Tyler Terry
Women’s 400 Meters (4:50 p.m.) – Amber Anning
Men’s 60 Hurdles (5 p.m.) – Eric Edwards Jr., Damion Thomas, Arthur Price
Women’s 60 Hurdles (5:07 p.m.) – Tonea Marshall, Alia Armstrong, Brittley Humphrey
Women’s 800 Meters (5:22 p.m.) – Katy-Ann McDonald
Men’s 200 Meters (5:30 p.m.) – Terrance Laird, Dylan Peebles, Akanni Hislop
Women’s 200 Meters (5:40 p.m.) – Thelma Davies, Symone Mason
Men’s 3,000 Meters (5:50 p.m.) – Eric Coston
Women’s 3,000 Meters (6:15 p.m.) – Sara Funderburk, Shanya Luna, Alicia Stamey
Men’s 4×4 – 6:40 p.m.
Women’s 4×4 – 6:55 p.m.
Up Next
Day two of the SEC Indoor Championships will begin for LSU on Saturday at 1:15 p.m. CT with the women’s and men’s high jump. Abby O’Donoghue and JuVaughn Harrison will be looking to defend their titles from a season ago. Day two of the meet will be available to watch on WatchESPN beginning at 4 p.m. CT.