by www.LSUsports.net, LSU Sports Interactive
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- A pair of runner-up finishes by hurdlers Jessica Ohanaja and Alleyne Lett followed by a second-place finish by sprinter Kelly Baptiste in the 200 meters highlighted Friday’s action for the LSU track and field teams at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
Ohanaja got the ball rolling for the Lady Tigers as she nearly broke the school record in the 60-meter hurdles after clocking a personal best time of 8.00 seconds in the finals to take second in the event. She earned her first career individual All-America honor as she is now tied for second on the school’s all-time list with former LSU great Lolo Jones.
Georgia Tech standout Shantia Moss edged Ohanaja at the tape by the narrowest of margins to win the event title at the Randal Tyson Track Center as she clocked the fastest time in nation this season by a collegiate athlete with a sub eight-second time of 7.98.
“I felt good and it was a really close race, but she just got me in the end,” Ohanaja said. “I think I had a really good race overall, and I don’t have any regrets with how I ran in the final. My start wasn’t good at all in the prelims, and I just thought about that and just kept telling myself to keep doing what I’d been doing coming in. I did that and ran as best I could today.”
Sophomore Nickiesha Wilson teamed with Ohanaja to lead the Lady Tigers’ effort in the hurdles as she also earned her first career All-America honor in an LSU uniform with a fifth-place finish. Wilson, who clocked a new personal best and the fourth-fastest time in school history in the prelims with a time of 8.01, crossed the finish line in 8.16 in the final heat to give the Lady Tigers 12 points in the event.
Lett followed Ohanaja’s career-best effort with one of his own as did break the school record in the 60-meter hurdles by clocking back-to-back personal best times of 7.70 in both the preliminary round and the event finals. He shatters the previous school record of 7.77 set by Bert Rareshide during the indoor campaign in 1996.
This marks the first time in his LSU career that Lett has received All-America recognition in the hurdles after signing with the Tigers as an outdoor All-American in the 110-meter hurdles while competing for Central Arizona Junior College. He did earn All-America honors in the men’s decathlon competition at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in 2005.
“Obviously, I would have loved to win the race but it’s OK to be second,” Lett said. “This was only my third race of the year, so I’ll take that. That was a goal for me (to set the school record) because it was my last indoor race and the first championship I’ve ever been to. It was tough switching from the decathlon to running just hurdles, but I’m very happy with my decision.”
Not to be outdone was Baptiste, who won her third career indoor All-America honor with a runner-up finish in the 200-meter sprint after finishing seventh in the event in 2006. The Trinidadian crossed the finish line behind Kerron Stewart (22.59) of Auburn with an indoor PR of 22.91 as she moves into the No. 5 spot on the school’s all-time indoor performance list.
Baptiste is also slated to compete in the finals of the women’s 60-meter dash on Saturday as she qualified fourth in the preliminary round with a time of 7.25 to take second place in her heat. She is set to claim her second All-America honor in the event in as many years as she finished third in the event at the national meet a season ago.
Rounding out the scoring for the Tigers on the first day of the competition was freshman Will Coppage as he also earned All-America honors in his first appearance at the indoor championship meet by taking fifth place in the men’s long jump. Coppage, who was not projected to score in the event as he entered the meet in 16th on the national performance list, set a new personal best mark in the event with a jump of 25 feet, 6 ¼ inches in the prelims.
“I’m very proud of Will and what he was able to do in his first championship meet,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “For a freshman to come in here and do what he did when he wasn’t even supposed to score in the event says a lot about what kind of competitive spirit he has and the potential he possesses. That was really big for our men’s team and gave us four big points when we weren’t supposed to score any on the first day of the meet.”
After winning the 800-meter title at the SEC Indoor Championships three weeks ago, freshman middle distance sensation Jamaal James will line up with an opportunity to compete for his first career national title in the event as he qualified for Saturday’s final heat with the fastest time in the preliminary round at 1 minute, 48.58 seconds.
James actually tripped at the 500-meter mark of the race but recovered to clock a new overall personal best in his specialty as he moves into the No. 2 spot on the school’s all-time indoor performance list with the fifth-fastest time run by a collegiate athlete this season.
“I was expecting to make it to the final and maybe win my heat, but I wasn’t expecting to run that fast,” James said. “I felt really comfortable today and I’m stronger mentally now than where I was at the beginning of the season. I’m also running with more confidence now after what I did at the SEC meet and expect to run a personal best again tomorrow.”
Also advancing to Saturday’s final in her specialty event was junior sprinter Sherry Fletcher in the women’s 60-meter dash. Fletcher will join Baptiste in the finals of the event as she took sixth place in the preliminary round and second in her heat with a new personal best time in the event with a 7.29. Freshman Samantha Henry clocked a new PR of her own in the 200 meters with a time of 23.38 despite not qualifying for Saturday’s final.
The Lady Tigers will line up on the second day of the competition in the hunt for their 12th indoor national championship in program history as they sit in second place in the team standings with a total of 20 points. The top-ranked women’s squad from Arizona State holds onto the top spot with 21 points following an exciting first day of the meet.
The men’s squad was not projected to score a single point on the first day of the competition but will head into Saturday’s action in sole possession of seventh place in the team standings with 12 points. The Wisconsin Badgers hold a five-point lead in the race for the national title as they have scored 20 points, while SEC rivals Auburn, Tennessee and Arkansas follow in a tie for second place with 15 points apiece.
“We didn’t get our women through in the quarter like we wanted to today, but I like the chances they have to score tomorrow,” Shaver said. “A few people need step up for us to give us a chance to win the track meet heading into the relay. On the men’s side, we scored 12 points today and we weren’t supposed to score any, and we’ve got a great chance with Jamaal and the relay to score some more points that we thought coming in.”
The second and final day of the NCAA Indoor Championships is scheduled to get underway Saturday with the conclusion of the men’s heptathlon at 11 a.m. followed by the day’s first field events at 2 p.m. and the running events beginning at 6:15 p.m. Andrea Linton is slated to kick things off for LSU as she competes in the women’s triple jump beginning at 5:30 p.m.
NCAA Indoor Results
Friday At Randal Tyson Track Center Fayetteville, Ark. (All race distances in meters)
Men 60 Hurdles
1, Jeff Porter, Michigan, 7.64 seconds. 2, Alleyne Lett, LSU, 7.70. 3, Dominic Berger, Maryland, 7.70. 4, John Yarbrough, Mississippi, 7.73. 5, Marlon Odom, Texas Tech, 7.73. 6, Thomas Hilliard, South Carolina, 7.78.
200
1, Walter Dix, Florida State, 20.32. 2, Rubin Williams, Tennessee, 20.63. 3, Chris Dykes, Texas A&M, 20.67. 4. Charles Clark, Florida State, 20.75. 5, Reggie Witherspoon, Baylor, 20.77. 6, Evander Wells, Tennessee, 20.80.
5,000
1, Chris Solinsky, Wisconsin, 13:38.61. 2, Peter Kosgei, Arkansas, 13:39.88. 3, Galen Rupp, Oregon, 13:40.38. 4, Samuel Chelanga, Farleigh Dickinson, 13:47.39. 5, Tim Nelson, Wisconsin, 13:48.08. 6, Kevin Chelimo, Texas Tech, 13:48.88.
Distance Medley
1, Stanford, 9:33.64. 2, California, 9:33.77. 3, Wisconsin, 9:35.81. 4, Northern Iowa, 9:37.00. 5, Washington, 9:38.30. 6, Michigan, 9:38.93.
Long Jump
1, Tone Belt, Louisville, 26 feet, 1 3/4 inches. 2, Trey Hardee, Texas, 25-8 1/4. 3, Alain Bailey, Arkansas, 25-6 3/4. 4, Scott Mayle, Ohio, 25-6 1/4. 5, Will Coppage, LSU, 25-6 1/4. 6, Norris Frederick, Washington, 25-1 1/4.
Pole Vault
1, Brad Gebauer, McNeese State, 18-0 1/2. 2, Rory Quiller, SUNY-Binghamton, 18-0 1/2. 3, Tyson Byers, Washington State, 18-0 1/2. 4, Chip Heuser, Oklahoma, 17-8 1/2. 5, Michael Hogue, Tennessee, 17-8 1/2. 6, Mark Johnson, Auburn, 17-8 1/2.
Weight Throw
1, Egor Agafonov, Kansas, 77-5 1/4. 2, Cory Martin, Auburn, 76-4 1/4. 3, Nick Owens, North Carolina, 71-2 3/4. 4, Eric Frasure, East Carolina, 70-9 3/4. 5, Jake Dunkleberger, Auburn, 70-9 1/4. 6, Matthew Wauters, Idaho, 69-9 1/2.
TEAM STANDINGS (Through 7 events)
1, Wisconsin, 20 points. 2, Arkansas, 15. 2, Auburn, 15. 2, Florida State, 15. 2, Tennessee, 15. 6, Michigan, 13. 7, LSU, 12. 8, Louisville, 11. t9, McNeese St., Stanford, Kansas, 10.
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Women 60 Hurdles
1, Shantia Moss, Georgia Tech, 7.98. 2, Jessica Ohanaja, LSU, 8.00. 3, Ashley Lodree, Washington, 8.01. 4, Candice Davis, Southern California, 8.05. 5, Nickiesha Wilson, LSU, 8.16. 6, Nia Ali, Tennessee, 8.17.
200
1, Kerron Stewart, Auburn, 22.58. 2, Kelly Ann Baptiste, LSU, 22.90. 3, Courtney Champion, Tennessee, 22.92. 4, Shareese Woods, Charlotte, 22.97. 5, Simone Facey, Texas A&M, 22.97. 6, Ebonie Floyd, Houston, 22.98.
5,000
1, Sally Kipyego, Texas Tech, 15:27.42. 2, Arianna Lambie, Stanford, 15:37.97. 3, Michelle Sikes, Wake Forest, 15:44.97. 4, Amy Hastings, Arizona State, 15:52.10. 5, Aine Hoban, Providence, 15:53.42. 6, Julia Lucas, N.C. State, 15:58.85.
Distance Medley
1, North Carolina, 10:59.46. 2, Tennessee, 11:05.92. 3, Michigan, 11:08.67. 4, Virginia Tech, 11:10.84. 5, Baylor, 11:10.87. 6, Oklahoma, 11:13.48.
High Jump
1, Patty Sylvester, Georgia, 6-2 1/4. 2, Levern Spencer, Georgia, 6-2 1/4. 3, Destinee Hooker, Texas, 6-1 1/4. 4, Sarah Wilfred, Cornell, 6-1 1/4. 5, Gaelle Niare, SMU, 6-0. 6, Caroline Wolf, Texas A&M, 6-0.
Long Jump
1, Rhonda Watkins, UCLA, 21-6 3/4. 2, Brenda Faluade, Miami, 21-3 1/4. 3, Brittney Reese, Mississippi, 21-0 1/2. 4, Natasha Harvey, Jacksonville, 20-10 3/4. 5, Janay DeLoach, Colorado State, 20-9 1/4. 6, Yvonne Mensah, Illinois, 20-6 1/4.
Shot Put
1, Sarah Stevens, Arizona State, 59-7. 2, Michelle Carter, Texas, 59-5 1/2. 3, Jessica Pressley, Arizona State, 55-10 1/2. 4, Rachel Jansen, Northern Iowa, 55-8 1/4. 5, Abigail Ruston, Texas State, 54-6. 6, Gail Lee, Memphis, 54-1 1/4.
TEAM STANDINGS (Through 7 events)
1, Arizona State, 21. 2, LSU, 20. 3, Tennessee, 19. 4, Georgia, 18. 5, Texas, 14. 6, Auburn, 10. 6, Georgia Tech, 10. 6, North Carolina, 10. 6, Texas Tech, 10. 6, UCLA, 10.
