Holliday Breaks Own 100-Meter Record at NCAA\'s

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- LSU sprinter Trindon Holliday continued his record-setting sophomore season Wednesday by shattering his own school record in the 100-meter dash on the first day of the 2007 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Hornet Stadium. Holliday, who entered the meet with a seasonal best time of 10.07 seconds set at the NCAA Mideast Regional Championships two weeks ago, obliterated his own school record with a wind-legal time of 10.02 in Wednesday’s semifinal round. The Zachary, La., native will head into Friday’s final as the top seed after pre-meet favorite Walter Dix of Florida State finished with the second-fastest time of the semifinal round at 10.13.  2007 World Top 10 100-Meters Performances (Wind Legal)  	Mark	Wind	Athlete	Nat	Venue 1.	9.97	0.5	Asafa Powell	JAM	Beograd 2.	9.98	2.0	Derrick Atkins	BAH	Berkeley, CA 3.	10.02	1.3	Darrel Brown	TRI	Kingston (NS), JAM 4.	10.02	1.8	Trindon Holliday	USA	Sacramento, CA  5.	10.02	-0.4	Mickey Grimes	USA	Atlanta, GA 6.	10.05	0.1	Walter Dix	USA	Gainesville, FL 7.	10.06	-0.6	Walter Dix	USA	Gainesville, FL 8. 	10.07	-0.4	Trindon Holliday	USA	Columbia, MO 9.	10.08	1.9	Joshua Ross 	AUS	Brisbane 10.	10.08	0.2	Trindon Holliday 	USA	Tuscaloosa, AL  “I really didn’t feel like I was running that fast. I was just trying to qualify for the final,” Holliday said. “It’s exciting. I feel pretty good right now, like I’ve got a lot left in the tank. I’m going to try to rest up tomorrow and come out again and run a good race on Friday. I’m in pretty good shape to compete for the title.” Junior Richard Thompson, who also earned a spot in the 100-meter final with the fourth-fastest time in the semifinal round at 10.23, believes that his teammate has what it takes to earn LSU its second straight national title in the event. “Trindon is an amazing athlete,” Thompson said. “He looks unstoppable right now. It looks like he was running with ease out there today. I know Walter Dix has gotten most of the pub coming into the meet, and deservedly so. He’s a great athlete in his own right. But I wouldn’t bet against Trindon when we line up on Friday.” Both the Tigers and Lady Tigers have put themselves in prime position to compete for a pair of team titles on Saturday as they combined to qualify a total of 11 athletes into individual event finals on Wednesday, while five athletes advanced into the meet’s semifinal action. In addition, both of LSU’s 4x100-meter relay teams are in a position to score big points in the team race after qualifying for Friday’s final with the fastest qualifying times of the afternoon. “We had a great day and really didn’t lose any scoring opportunities that we thought we’d have,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “Those scoring punches are crucial. We thought that if we took care of business today that we’d be in great position on Saturday. Tomorrow is a new track meet, and it’d be great to come out and take care of business like we did today.” Sophomore Jeremy Hicks is the only LSU athlete who will have an opportunity to score points for the Tigers on Thursday as he qualified for the final in the men’s long jump with an impressive mark of 25 feet, ¾ inches on his first jump of the competition. Hicks also ran the leadoff leg on the men’s sprint relay team that clocked a seasonal best time of 39.36 as he was joined in the event by Thompson, senior Marvin Stevenson and Holliday. The Lady Tiger foursome of Jessica Ohanaja, Samantha Henry, Brooklynn Morris and Sherry Fletcher carried the stick around the track in 43.68. In addition to Hicks’ performance, the Tigers qualified three athletes into individual event finals on the evening, including senior Alleyne Lett in the 110-meter hurdles and both sophomore Chad Radgowski and freshman Preston Chatham in the javelin throw. Lett, who was the national runner-up in the 60-meter hurdles during the indoor season, qualified with a new personal best and the second-fastest time in the semifinal round at 13.52, while Radgowski posted the second-best qualifying mark in his specialty at 230-7. The Lady Tigers qualified five athletes of their own into the final round of competition as Fletcher (100 meters), Ohanaja (100 hurdles), sophomore Nickiesha Wilson (100 hurdles), senior Shaunette Davidson (high jump) and freshman Katelyn Rodrigue (pole vault) all advanced. With their performances, both Davidson and Rodrigue have give the Lady Tigers additional chances to score valuable points as neither was projected to qualify for the finals of their events. Rodrigue tied 12 other pole vaulters with the top qualifying mark at 13-1 ½, and Davidson earned the 12th and final qualifying spot in the high jump with a clearance of 5-9 ¾. Advancing to Thursday’s semifinal action were sophomore Reuben Twijukye and freshman LaTavia Thomas in the 800-meter run, while a trio of LSU athletes advanced to Friday’s semis in the 400, including senior Siraj Williams, senior Cynetheia Rooks and junior Deonna Lawrence. “Overall, I thought both the men and the women lined up and competed extremely well today,” Shaver said. “It was important to get off to a good start, and we did that. Our kids lined up and competed like we thought they would. And it wasn’t just on the track. We had some outstanding performances in the field as well.” The Lady Tigers will kick off Thursday’s action for LSU with the first round of qualifying in the women’s 200-meter dash at 5:50 p.m. CDT. Action on the men’s side is set to get underway at 6:10 p.m. with the first qualifying round of the 400-meter hurdles.