ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Junior All-American Richard Thompson proved once again why he is among the nation's elite short sprinters as he clocked a facility record time of 6.65 on Saturday to capture the 60-meter title at the Lobo Invitational at the Albuquerque Convention Center.
Thompson ran the second-fastest 60-meter time in team history for the second straight day as his altitude-adjusted time of 6.67 is the third-consecutive NCAA provisional qualifying time he has posted this season. He ran a previous best time of 6.70 on Friday in the preliminaries of the event.
"I'm not really surprised at how well I'm competing right now at this point in the season," Thompson said. "I've been working hard in my training, competing smart and I really believe in Coach (Dennis) Shaver's program. That gives me and the rest of this team a lot of confidence in every meet we compete in."
Thompson's personal best effort is just a split-second behind LSU great Kelly Willie's school record time of 6.66 set in the preliminary round at the NCAA Indoor Championships a year ago. He said that while he does not enter a competition with his sights set on breaking the school record, it is a thought that crosses his mind in his day-to-day training.
"When I'm out there I don't really think about it that much because I just step in there and try to execute my reach properly and come out with a win," Thompson said. "But when I'm not competing, that's definitely something that's in my mind. Coach Shaver has been telling me that since the off-season, and I'm really starting to believe in myself a lot more than last year."
Thompson led the men's squad to a third place finish in the team competition with 92 points, while the women showed why they are expected to compete for a national championship this season as a total of five Lady Tigers captured event titles and seven others earned runner-up finishes en route to a first-place team finish with 174 points.
"This was really a great meet for us to be a part of, and I was really pleased with the total team effort that was shown by both the men and the women this weekend," Shaver said. "This was their first opportunity to step out against some top quality competition and they performed extremely well. We took a big step as a team at this meet and we need to build on it."
The women's hurdles group continues to prove that it is one of the deepest squads in the country as junior Jessica Ohanaja, sophomore Nickiesha Wilson and senior Angel Boyd took the top three spots in the 60-meter hurdles for the second straight meet.
Ohanaja won her second hurdles title of the young season by matching her effort in the event's preliminary round with a NCAA provisional qualifying time of 8.21 in Saturday's final. Wilson took second place in the event by clocking a provisional qualifying time of her own with a 8.24, while Boyd ran a personal best and the ninth-fastest time in school history at 8.27.
The Lady Tiger sprinters proved to be just as dominant on the second day of competition as junior All-Americans Kelly Baptiste and Brooklynn Morris, and freshman Samantha Henry each clocked NCAA provisional qualifying times in their season debuts in the women's 200 meters.
Baptiste took top honors in the event as she crossed the finish line in a facility record time of 23.33 in her first 200-meter race of the season, while Morris followed closely behind in third place with a time of 23.58 and Henry earned a fourth-place finish in the event with a personal best time of 23.64.
Henry also posted an NCAA provisional qualifying time in the 60-meter dash for the second straight day as she earned a runner-up finish in the event with a time of 7.34 in the final heat. She was followed closely behind by junior All-American Sherry Fletcher, who took third place by qualifying provisionally with a time of 7.36.
"These types of performances show once again the hard work and dedication that these women have shown during the off-season and through this early part of the season," Shaver said. "They're running provisional times and personal bests each time they step on the track, and that says a lot about where they are at this point."
The weekend closed with a bang as both the men's and women's 4x400-meter relay teams clocked strong NCAA provisional qualifying times against some of the nation's best squads.
The Lady Tiger foursome of Morris, senior Cynetheia Rooks, Wilson and junior Deonna Lawrence qualified provisionally and took first place in the event with a facility record time of 3:33.59, while the men's squad of seniors Siraj Williams, Melville Rogers, Marvin Stevenson and junior Reggie Dardar finished second with a provisional time of 3:07.39.
"The women really seem to be competing with camaraderie and a team unity that maybe we haven't seen this early in the season before," Shaver said. "It's a tremendous feat for this relay team to come out here at this altitude and nearly run an automatic qualifying time for the NCAA meet, and it's going to be fun to watch their improvement as the season goes along.
"It's the same with the men's relay team. We obviously ran without Kelly Willie and Xavier Carter this year and actually ran a faster time than we did at this meet a year ago. I truly believe that this team has the talent and the depth to be able to run like we did at the NCAAs last year."
The Tigers and Lady Tigers return to the track next weekend as they play host to both the LSU Combined Events and the Bayou Bengal Invitational at the Carl Maddox Fieldhouse on Jan. 25-26. They are then scheduled to open the month of February in New York at the prestigious New Balance Collegiate Invitational at the Armory Track & Field Center on Feb. 2-3.
"We're just taking it one meet at a time right now," Shaver said. "We're looking to make a little bit of a move this week at home and follow that with another big step in New York two weeks from now. It's important that we correct some of the mistakes that I saw this weekend, but I'm really pleased with how we're competing at this point in the season."