MOBILE, Ala. – Several first place finishes on the track and in field events for the Ragin’ Cajuns men’s and women’s track and field squad were recorded here Saturday as the first half of the 2013 outdoor season wrapped up at the Jaguar Invitational.
Morgan Breaux (100 meter dash), Danielle Castaldi (800 meter run), Anna Devitt (3,000 meter run) and Kacey Elphage (100 meter hurdles) picked up individual titles in women’s track.
Zach Meche finishing first in the 400 meter dash and Justin Jones collecting runner-up finishes in the 100 meter and 200 meter dash were the top performance in men’s track.
The Ragin’ Cajuns made a clean sweep in women’s jumps with Lindsey Harmon (high jump), Ta’Shania Bean (long jump) and Tarvia Conway (triple jump) claiming individual titles.
Myles Melancon was the top collegian in men’s shot put and O’Daylon Thibeaux’s season debut in men’s triple jump saw him place second.
The women’s 4x400 relay grouping of Stacy Imagbe, Amanda Roberts, Castaldi and Krystal Chevis dominated the competition finishing first by outdistancing the runner-up group from Southeastern Louisiana by 11 seconds. The group finished the relay in 3:52.50 and was the only team to run the event in under four minutes.
Breaux, a North Vermilion High product, set a personal best in the 100 meter with a clocking of 11.67 seconds. That easily topped her previous best of 12.02 seconds at the March 16 Louisiana Classics.
Breaux finished a close second in the 200 meter dash with her time of 24.57 seconds just shy of first place finisher Tiarra Goode of Birmingham Southern whose time of 24.48 seconds won the event. Breaux made her 2013 debut in the 200 meter dash and topped her previous best time of 25.07 seconds (2011 Sun Belt Championships).
Both Castaldi and Devitt picked up the first event titles of their collegiate career. Castaldi’s 800 meter time of 2:16.01 was a full three seconds ahead of the event runner-up while Devitt’s 3,000 meter time of 10:19.48 had her 23 seconds faster than the closest competitor (Mary Finn, South Alabama, 10:42.41).
Redshirt senior Kacey Elphage continued to impress in the 100 meter hurdles, running the event under 14 seconds for the third time. Elphage’s time of 13.56 seconds landed her the Jaguar Invitational title, placing her ahead of Sun Belt competitors Jasmine Patton (13.90) and Christina Barrett (14.77) of Troy who finished second and third.
Elphage has ran the 100 meter hurdles in 13.54 (Louisiana Classics), 13.69 (LSU Relays) and 13.56 (Jaguar Invitational) in the 2013 outdoor campaign.
Harmon picked up her second high jump title of her freshman season and set a new personal best with a clearance of 1.79m/5-10 ½. It was Harmon’s second height of 5 feet, 10 inches and eclipsed her previous high of 1.78m/5-10 set at the Louisiana Classics.
Ta’Shania Bean led a trio of Cajuns who finished 1-2-3 in women’s long jump with a first place leap of 5.88m/19-3 ½. Bean leaped past 19 feet for a second straight week and set a personal best a second straight week beating out the jump of 5.81m/19-0 ¾. Tia Mitchell (5.78m/18-11 ¾) and Imagbe (5.70m/18-8 ½) came in second and third, respectively, behind Bean.
Tarvia Conway became the first Cajun to reach 40 feet in women’s triple jump since Jasmine Manuel’s All-American campaign of 2012. Conway, the daughter of Cajuns alum and Olympian Hollis Conway, leaped 12.19m/40-0 to finish first place and equal the mark of conference rival Shayna McCarver of South Alabama.
Freshman Meredith Driskell grabbed her first collegiate outdoor title with a pole vault clearance of 3.41m/11-2 ¼.
Jones notched his season best times in men’s 100 meter dash (10.49) and 200 meter dash (21.32).
Meche (Church Point, La./Church Point HS) finished the men’s 400 meter dash a full second faster than his previous season best. Meche used a time of 47.92 seconds to claim victory on Saturday and top his time of 48.92 seconds in the event at last week’s LSU Relays.
The freshman trio of Scott Brewster (3:58.29), Matt Rice (4:01.79) and Cole Stafford (4:03.43) paced Louisiana’s efforts in the men’s 1,500 meter run. The trio placed 2-3-4 with Brewster just missing out on the title time of 3:58.18 recorded by South Alabama’s Robert Mann.
Melancon was the top collegian in a meet for the third straight week in men’s shot put. The St. Martinville product produced a toss of 17.23m/56-6 ½ and finished runner-up to Robert Collingwood who participated unattached at tossed 17.57m/57-7 ¾. Melancon reached 55-plus feet for the third straight week.
Thibeaux, participating in the triple jump for the first time since the indoor season, landed a jump of 14.27m/46-10 which placed him second in the event. It was his furthest jump since leaping 14.31m/46-11 ½ at the Jeff Davis McNeese Indoor on Feb. 1.
The men’s 4x400 meter relay grouping of Antoine Jackson, Keygan Keys, Brewster and Meche ran in 3:19.39 and finished third amongst the eight teams entered in the event. The Cajuns contingent ran with teams from Sun Belt foes Troy (3:18.80) and South Alabama (3:18.86).