FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - The first day of competition at the Tyson Invitational belonged to senior 800-meter runner LaTavia Thomas as the Lady Tiger All-American raced home in 2 minutes, 4.55 seconds for a runner-up finish in the invitational event during Friday's action at the Randal Tyson Track Center.
Thomas, a former NCAA Indoor champion and four-time All-American in the 800-meter run, finished the four-lap race with an NCAA automatic qualifying time and seasonal best to assure herself a return trip to the Tyson Center for the 2010 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships in March. Nike's Alysia Johnson was the only runner to outlast Thomas to the finish line in the race with a clocking of 2:02.60 in the first event of Friday's evening session. Thomas' performance ranks among the best in the NCAA this season as she moves into the No. 4 spot on the NCAA list among all collegians with the second-fastest time recorded on a banked track in 2010. The Philadelphia native is the third Lady Tiger to record an NCAA automatic qualifying performance this season as she joins junior Brittani Carter and sophomore Rachel Laurent on LSU's NCAA Championship roster. Laurent ranks No. 2 nationally in the pole vault with a season-best clearance of 14 feet, 3 ¼ inches, while Carter also ranks No. 4 in the NCAA with a mark of 6-0 ¾ in the high jump. "Having Alysia in the race helped a lot because she is experienced in this event and she likes to take it out from the start. I knew if I stayed behind her for at least the first 400 meters, I would be on a better pace than last week," Thomas said. "I'm glad to get this race out of the way. I didn't run very fast last week but knew I could come here and qualify for the NCAA Championships. "It's also good to run well on the same track where we'll have our two biggest indoor meets. It gives me a feel of what I've got to do on this track to run faster." In the wake of Thomas' qualifying run, the Tigers responded with a tremendous performance of their own in the men's invitational 800 meters as junior Richard Jones and senior Jamaal James finished second and third, respectively, with performances that rank among the NCAA leaders this season. After opening the season with an NCAA provisional qualifier of 1:48.88 last weekend at the New Balance Collegiate Invitational, Jones set a new indoor personal record of 1:48.41 that ranks No. 5 on the NCAA's performance list this season and moves him into the No. 4 spot on LSU's all-time list in the event. James followed closely behind with a seasonal best NCAA provisional qualifying time of 1:48.73 that put him No. 8 on the national list of postseason qualifiers in 2010. "I thought we were able to accomplish a few things today, especially with our middle distance group," said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. "That was just a tremendous effort to turn in three performances that will get into the NCAA meet. For many of our athletes, this is the last chance they will have to qualify for the NCAA Championships before the conference meet. They certainly took advantage of that today." Sophomore Barrett Nugent continued to show the All-America form he has displayed throughout the first part of the season en route to a runner-up finish in the men's 60-meter hurdles. After qualifying for the final with a time of 7.80 in the preliminary round, Nugent raced side-by-side with defending NCAA champion Ronnie Ash of Oklahoma before finishing in second place with a clocking of 7.73. Ash won the race with the nation's second-fastest time of 7.69. Nugent has shown consistency week in and week out as he has now run 7.80 or faster in seven of eight races this season. For the Lady Tigers, freshman Takeia Pinckney advanced to the final of the 60-meter dash where she was the fifth-place finisher in an NCAA Championship caliber field with a time of 7.35. The Tigers kicked off this year's Tyson Invitational with a pair of first-time NCAA provisional qualifiers in the very first event on the track as senior Armanti Hayes finished in 11th place overall in the 400-meter dash with a seasonal-best time of 47.08 and freshman Caleb Williams took 13th place in the event with an indoor personal-time time of 47.19. Saturday's action at the 2010 Tyson Invitational is scheduled to get underway in the field events at 11 a.m. CT followed by the first events on the track at 1 p.m. The meet will come to a close with the running of the 4x400-meter relays beginning at 4:45 p.m. Live results can be found online at www.LSUsports.net.