BATON ROUGE, La. – The LSU track and field team closed out the Battle on the Bayou at home on Saturday, hosted at the Bernie Moore Track & Field Stadium. The end half of the meet was eventually canceled due to the weather.
One of the biggest moments from Saturday’s action came from freshman Jelani Watkins in heat two of the 100 meter. The race marked his collegiate opener in the event and he made his way to a time of 10.01 seconds (+2.1 m/s), just over the wind-legal limit of 2.0 m/s. Watkins finished taking second next to the World-Championship competitor Eddie Nketia by just .004 of a second. The time tied him with Nketia for the national lead and makes him the sole leader of the SEC.
The meet finished early due to inclement weather, but it only took Jevan Parara one throw to leave his mark at the meet. Parara tossed the No. 8 mark in LSU performance-list history of 56.13 meters (184’ 2”) on his first and only attempt. Freshman Chad Hendricks took second behind him, also only getting one throw due to the weather, reaching the distance of 55.06 meters (180’ 7”).
Sophomore Leah Acosta had an injury scare last season that left her unable to walk and required screws in her ankle. Today she made her collegiate debut in disc throw and was able to crack the LSU Top-10 list in it. Acosta reached a mark of 51.88 meters (170’ 2”) on her fifth toss of the afternoon, putting her at No. 9 in LSU history. She also recorded a PR of 14.60 meters (47’ 10.75” in shot put, which was just short of the LSU PL.
Taylor Fingers leaped out to a win today in her triple-jump opener. The sophomore reached a distance of 13.04 meters (42’ 9.5”) to earn the win, but the mark was over the allowable wind limit of +4.0 m/s. Her top legal mark on the day came in at 12.68 meters (41’ 7.25”).
The men’s high jump was one of the few events going on when the meet eventually was canceled due to the weather, but the event was moved inside to close the meet. Freshman Kam Franklin reached a personal-best height of 2.17 meters (7’ 1.25”) to finish third in his opener. Franklin’s height puts him at No. 8 on the all-time LSU PL outdoors.
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