BATON ROUGE, La. – The LSU track and field program opened up its 2023 season on Friday afternoon at the Carl Maddox Field House. The Purple Tiger was highlighted with 10 event titles and four top-ten marks added to the LSU history book.
The day was kicked off for the Tigers with the men’s weight throw which saw junior Luke Witte go to work early. Witte’s first throw of the season landed at 20.62 meters (67’ 8”), good enough for ninth on the all-time list, but the Florida native was just getting started. Witte ended the morning with a personal-best throw of 21.18 meters (69’ 6”), giving him sole possession of seventh on the all-time LSU list. The event winning throw is good enough for third in the nation currently.
LSU had two women earn their marks in the LSU top-10 list for pole vault on Friday. Freshman Emery Prentice finished the day with a personal-best mark of 3.95 meters (12’ 11.50”), which ranks fourth in LSU history. Sophomore Johanna Duplantis finished right behind Prentice in second with a height of 3.80 meters (12’ 5.50”), good enough for seventh in LSU history. On the men’s side, freshman Beau Domingue took first place with a height of 4.90 meters (16’ 0.75”).
From start to finish freshman Matthew Sophia could not be contained, finishing with a personal-best time of 7.76 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles. Sophia ran a time of 7.83 seconds originally, which had him sitting .01 seconds out of the top-10 list, but shaving .07 seconds off his time in the final earned him eighth in LSU history. The Netherlands native currently sits at fourth in the nation, just .08 seconds out of first. Sophia wasn’t the only hurdler today to win their event. Junior Leah Phillips cruised her way to first in the final with a personal-best time of 8.16 seconds. Her new best is good enough for third in the nation to start the season.
The Tigers swept the mile and long jump this weekend with stellar performances from both the men and women. Sophomore Michaela Rose led the way with a personal-best time of 4:52.70 in first place for the women’s mile title. The most impressive part was the grouping LSU formed with nine of the top-ten times in the mile being Tigers. Rose’s time flat-track converted ranks in the top-15 in the nation at 4:49.84. Senior Parker McBride led the men’s side with a personal-best time of 4:12.93 in first place for the men’s mile title. In the long jump, both junior Morgan Smalls and senior Brandon Hicklin won their events with personal-best marks of 6.12 meters (20’ 1”) and 7.59 meters (24’ 11”) respectively. Smalls mark ranks eight in the nation, while Hicklin’s ranks seventh.
The final event winner of the afternoon for LSU was junior Da’Marcus Fleming in the men’s 60 meter with a time of 6.73 seconds. His time of 6.71 seconds in the preliminaries ties him for seventh in the nation.
Additional Personal Bests
Jevan Parara – Weight Throw – 53’ 2.25”
Kameron Aime – Pole Vault – 15’7”
Godson Oghenebrume – 60 meter – 6.74s
Isiah Travis – 600m – 1:20.60s
Lorena Rangel – Mile – 4:53.28
Callie Hardy – Mile – 4:53.37
Adele Broussard – Mile – 5:02.30
Sophie Martin – Mile – 5:05.89
Ella Chesnut – Mile – 5:12.34
Cindy Bourdier – Mile – 4:54.29
Hailey Day – Mile – 5:14.83
Gwyneth Hughes – Mile – 5:19.23
Jack Wallace – Mile – 4:18.86
Jackson Martingayle – Mile – 4:20.50
Will Dart – Mile – 4:23.39
Up Next
LSU will hit the road and travel to Lubbock, Texas, for the Red Raider Open on January 20.
Follow Us
Stay up to date with all things LSU track and field by following us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.