BATON ROUGE -- Junior All-American Jessica Ohanaja solidified her spot among the nation's elite 60-meter hurdlers by posting a NCAA automatic qualifying time and personal best of 8.14 in the final heat to take first place in the event at the Bayou Bengal Invitational on Friday.
Ohanaja, who ranks sixth on the school's all-time indoor performance list in the 60-meter hurdles, has taken the event title in each of LSU's three meets this season as she also won the crown at both the Purple Tiger Classic on Jan. 13 and Modrall Sperling Lobo Invitational on Jan. 20. Her personal best time ranks No. 2 in the country on the national descending order list.
"I came into this race pushing for an automatic time, and I couldn't be happier with the way I ran," Ohanaja said. "I got out of the blocks really well and was able to keep the lead all the way through. It wasn't easy because Nickiesha (Wilson) was right there pushing me the whole way, but I'm excited by the way I am running this early in the season."
Wilson, a sophomore from Kingston, Jamaica, finished runner-up to Ohanaja for the third time this season by clocking a NCAA provisional qualifying time and personal best of her own with an 8.16 in the event finals, marking the nation's third-fastest time recorded by a collegiate athlete this season.
"I haven't seen these types of performances from our hurdlers this early in the season in the 13 years I've been here at LSU," said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. "We've been training hard, and they're starting to develop that consistency and competitiveness that it's going to take for them to compete at the national meet."
Junior Ryan Fontenot pulled off the sweep for LSU as he took first place in the men's 60-meter hurdles for his first title this season and second of his career, following his time of 8.08 in the preliminary round with a 8.13 in the final heat. Sophomore distance standout Joseph Simuchimba took home the title in the 3,000 meters with a solid effort of 8:44.15.
Freshman jumps standout Will Coppage led the Tigers' effort in the field events by taking top honors in the men's long jump competition after posting his first career NCAA provisional qualifying mark with a season-best leap of 24 feet, 9 inches in the preliminary round.
Coppage, who signed with LSU as one of the nation's premier recruits in the long jump, finished just inches ahead of teammate and All-SEC performer Jeremy Hicks at 24 feet, 5 inches to claim the first long jump title of his LSU career. He improves upon his previous season best jump of 23-9 ½ set at the Purple Tiger Classic.
"I knew it was going to be a good day for me after my first two jumps in the prelims," Coppage said. "I put in a lot of work this week and had some very good practices, and I just came in relaxed and hit a good jump. I'm still not where I want be, but hopefully I can start hitting jumps over 25 feet as we get closer to NCAAs."
Junior Kathy Coleman narrowly missed earning top honors in the long jump on the women's side as she took second place by less than an inch with an indoor personal best jump of 20-8 ½, while Lady Tiger sophomore All-American Andrea Linton finished runner-up in the women's triple jump after leaping 40-3 ¼ in the championship flight.
"This meet always comes at a time when our kids in the more technical events like the jumps start to get a little better handle on timing things up and starting to jump well," Shaver said. "We usually expect them to start blossoming a little bit this time of the year, and that was the case tonight for Will Coppage and some of the other athletes."
Junior Gavin Fleming kicked off the day by finishing second in the men's heptathlon as he finished behind event champion Cory Roberts of Southeastern, La., with 4,847 points. Fleming's effort was highlighted with personal bests in first-place finishes in both the high jump (6-3 ½) and long jump (21-11 ½), earning him a total of 1,472 points between the two events.
The teams will be on the road for back-to-back meets as they travel to the Armory Track & Field Center in New York to compete in the prestigious New Balance Collegiate Invitational on Feb. 2-3 followed by a trip to Fayetteville, Ark., for an appearance in the Tyson Invitational at the Randall Tyson Track Complex on Feb. 9-10.