Lett Highlights LSU Twilight Indoor Track Meet

BATON ROUGE -- Senior All-American Alleyne Lett led the Tigers’ effort on Friday night by clocking both an NCAA provisional qualifying time and a new personal best in the men’s 60-meter hurdles at the LSU Twilight Invitational at the Carl Maddox Fieldhouse.

Lett, who strengthened his position on the No. 3 spot on the school’s all-time indoor performance list, posted back-to-back provisional qualifying times to claim his first title in the event in his LSU career. He followed a time of 7.90 in the preliminary round with a team season-best time of 7.84 in the final heat.

“Alleyne is excited right now, and you can see him smiling and feeling good about making a contribution to the team,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “I’m really proud of him because we’ve been patient and we’ve been slow since he made the move to just hurdles. Tonight was the night where he needed to step up and do something and he did just that.

“I’m still a little cautious because doing really well here and then not being able to run next week is not what we have planned for him. He got through it and ran a personal best tonight, and I think it’s just a sign of a young man that really prepared himself to contribute to the team. I appreciate that from him and look forward to him competing for us at the SEC meet next weekend.”

The Tigers also recorded a pair of wins in the middle distance and distance events as senior All-American Austin Benton captured the 400-meter title with a season-best time of 49.08, while junior miler Drew Haro took top honors in his event by stopping the clock in a time of 4:21.37 in just his second mile race of the season.

Distance standouts Rueben Twijukye and Joseph Simuchimba stepped down a distance this weekend as Twijukye finished runner-up to Benton in the 400 meters and Simuchimba took third place in the men’s mile competition. Junior Kate Accardo set the tone for the Lady Tigers in the distance events by running a 15-second personal best in the mile with a time of 5:15.89.

“It was good to see some of the guys dropping down and running shorter races than what they’re used to and really competing well tonight,” Shaver said. “This track is not a friend to your legs if you’re running at those distances. There were a lot of good things happening tonight even though they may not appear to be running their best times.

“Those are great marks for guys who have dropped down to a shorter distance. We want to go back up to an oversized track next weekend where they may be able to relax a little bit more and be a little more comfortable at a faster pace and be able to finish the race and get a personal best, which is what we’re looking for.”

Freshman Adam Wilcox highlighted the Tigers’ effort in the field events by taking second place in the men’s shot put competition with a new personal best mark of 53-1 ¾. Wilcox improves upon his previous best by nearly one foot as he recorded a throw of 52-3 ¾ at the Bayou Bengal Invitational earlier in the season.

“I’m proud of Adam for what he was able to do tonight,” Shaver said. “It’s not a mark that will likely score a lot of points for us at the SEC meet, but it just goes to show another person who made the decision to step up his game a little bit in order to help the team. He got himself ready and got his game better, and that’s what a meet like this is for.”

On the women’s side, sophomore Mallory Thompson and freshman Kim Williams took home event titles in the field as Thompson won the women’s pole vault competition with a season-best clearance of 10-11 ¾ and Williams took home the weight throw title with a heave of 49-11 ¼.

The Tigers and Lady Tigers are set to begin the championship season as they travel to the Nutter Fieldhouse in Lexington, Ky., on Thursday to compete in the SEC Indoor Championships. The meet will be a three-day event with the men’s and women’s conference champions being crowned at the conclusion on Feb. 25.