BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Swedish natives Sofia Johnsson and Farydah Inoussa started with a bang for the Privateers to highlight the first day of the Southland Indoor Championships on Wednesday in Birmingham.
Johnsson broke a record she previously set by collecting 3,678 points and finishing second in the women's pentathlon. Inoussa had a strong outing in the same event and had the lead going into the final event before finishing third. Both athletes combined to collect 14 team points for New Orleans.
The day was just getting started for the Privateers as Markus Leemet would show in the first day of the men's heptathlon. Leemet got off to a flying start by winning his heat and setting a personal best in the 60-meter, clocking 7.11. That time was good enough for first place overall after the opening event, and the momentum continued.
Leemet went on to take first place in the long jump with a mark of 21-feet 7.5-inches and the shot put with a throw of 43-feet 4.25-inches. Leemet also tied for third in the high jump, and rounded out the first day of competition with a 101-point lead. "It was a great day for our young combined event group," said Privateers Head Coach Mike Erb. "For Sofia and Farydah to place second and third as true freshmen is a special thing. Markus has looked sharp and positioned himself well going into day two of the heptathlon."
Defending Southland Track Athlete of the Week Darius Roy ran strongly in the preliminaries of the 60- and 200-meter dash. In the 60-meter, Roy blazed a 6.80 and turned in the second-fastest time overall in qualifying for the finals on Thursday. Later in the night, Roy turned in a time of 21.60 in the 200-meter preliminaries.
Constant Pretorius was able to qualify for the finals of the 400-meter with a time of 49.03 seconds. Pretorius made the finals by .08 seconds, and his time was nearly half a second faster than his indoor season best, which was set at the Samford Invitational. "Both Darius and Constant looked solid in the preliminary rounds and did what they needed to do to set themselves up for the finals tomorrow," said Erb.