LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Freshman Katelyn Rodrigue made history at the SEC Indoor Championships on Saturday as she broke her own school record in the pole vault for the fifth time this season and became the first Lady Tiger in program history to score at the conference meet.
The New Orleans native and product of Dominican High School scored five points for the Lady Tigers with a fourth-place finish in the event as she set yet another school record with a new personal best clearance of 12 feet, 10 ¾ inches. She breaks her previous season best mark of 12-6 ¾ coming into the meet.
“I’m really excited with what happened today,” Rodrigue said. “I wasn’t even too nervous when I had to clear my first two heights on my third attempt. I just wanted to score some points for our team, so I pumped myself up for my last three heights and got it done. I didn’t even know that I was the first person to score here until Coach Boo (Schexnayder) told me after I was finished.”
This marks the fifth time that Rodrigue has cleared the 12-foot plateau this season as no other Lady Tiger had accomplished that feat heading into the 2007 season. In fact, the only time she has not cleared 12 feet this season was when she first broke the previous school record of 11-9 ¾ with a clearance of 11-11 ¾ in her first collegiate meet.
After fouling on her first two attempts at heights of 12-0 ½ and 12-4 ½, Rodrigue stepped up and cleared the bar each time to put herself in a position to score valuable points for the Lady Tigers’ cause. She then cleared back-to-back personal best heights of 12-7 ½ and 12-10 ¾ on her second attempt before bowing out of the competition with the bar raised to a height of 13-1 ¾.
Junior All-SEC hopeful Kathy Coleman entered the weekend with the league’s best mark in the women’s long jump and managed a fifth-place finish in the event, scoring an additional four points for her team and help the Lady Tigers into third place in the team standings heading into the final day of competition with a total of 19 points.
The men’s squad also scored valuable points in the field events as sophomore Jeremy Hicks and freshman Will Coppage kicked off the Tigers’ effort on Saturday by combining for 10 points with third and fifth-place finishes in the long jump, respectively. Hicks just missed earning all-conference honors with a jump of 24-5 ¾ in the preliminary round, while Coppage posted a mark of 23-10 ¾ in the event finals.
Junior Gavin Fleming added five more points for the Tigers as he carried LSU’s success in the multi-events into the second day of competition by taking fourth place in the men’s heptathlon. Fleming, who entered Saturday’s action in 10th place in the event, scored a total of 4,859 points over the course of seven events to put the Tigers in sixth place in the overall team standings with a combined 15 points.
“Gavin is just a hard worker,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “He stayed in there and hung in there, and he was able to move up quite a few spots from where he stood coming into the meet today. Her performed very well today compared to what he was able to do yesterday, and I have to give him a lot of credit for doing what he did. That says a lot about a guy who was determined to get something done today.”
The Tigers and Lady Tigers also enjoyed a successful day on the track as a total of 24 athletes combined to advance to Sunday’s final in their respective specialty event with distances ranging from both the 60-meter dash and hurdles to the mile.
The Lady Tigers’ effort was highlighted by a pair of NCAA automatic qualifying times in the 200 meters by junior All-Americans Kelly Baptiste and Brooklynn Morris. Baptiste, who had already qualified automatically in the event at the Tyson Invitational two weeks ago, took third in the preliminary round with a season best time of 23.14 seconds with Morris following in fourth place with a season best time of her own at 23.26.
Baptiste was also the team’s top finisher in the preliminaries of the 60 meters as she took third with a time of 7.28, while freshman Samantha Henry (7.41), sophomore Monique Cabral (7.43) and junior Jessica Ohanaja (7.44) also earned a spot in the event finals. Both Cabral and Ohanaja clocked PRs in the event while qualifying provisionally for the NCAA Indoor Championships for the first time in their respective careers.
In addition to qualifying automatically for the finals of the 60-meter dash, Ohanaja enters the final day of competition as the favorite to win the 60-meter hurdles as she was the only Lady Tiger to advance to Sunday’s action with a time of 8.19.
Sophomore Nickiesha Wilson did not qualify for the finals of the women’s hurdles as was expected, but she ran the nation’s fifth-fastest time this season at 52.88 to advance in the 400 meters. Wilson’s personal best time puts her in the No. 7 spot on the school’s all-time indoor performance list as she will be joined in the finals by teammates Deonna Lawrence (53.13) and Cynetheia Rooks (53.78).
A trio of Lady Tigers is also set to represent the squad in the finals of the 800 meters as freshman LaTavia Thomas, senior Tanya Osbourne and sophomore Lindsay Day each advanced on Saturday. Thomas took the top spot in the preliminaries with a time of 2:08.62, while Osbourne finished with a season best time of 2:09.65 and Day clocked a new personal best in the event at 2:10.71.
“I expected this kind of effort from our women, especially what we were able to do in the 200 and 400 tonight,” Shaver said. “I think we had three qualify in those events, which is about what I thought we would do coming into the meet. It was good to see Brooklynn run the way she did after struggling for much of the season, and Nickiesha too after not qualifying in the hurdles.”
On the men’s side, the day was highlighted by a pair of outstanding performances in the 60-meter hurdles. The Tigers will be represented by multiple athletes in the finals of the event for the first time in program history as senior Alleyne Lett clocked a new personal best time of 7.79 in the preliminary round, while junior Ryan Fontenot followed closely behind with a mark of 7.97.
Lett has all but assured himself an invitation to compete at the NCAA Indoor Championships in March as he posted the nation’s 10th fastest time in the event to this point in the season while also moving into second place on the school’s all-time indoor performance list.
Junior Richard Thompson earned a spot in the final heat of the 60-meter dash with an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 6.71, while senior Melville Rogers and freshman Armanti Hayes are slated to represent the Tigers in the finals of the 200 meters with times of 21.20 and 21.22, respectively. Hayes’ effort in his preliminary heat is a new personal best by more than a second.
A pair of Tigers will also be competing for all-conference honors in the quarter mile as senior standout Siraj Williams and junior All-American Reggie Dardar advanced to Sunday’s final in their specialty event. Williams’ time of 46.61 in the preliminaries is a new personal best in the event and places him No. 8 on the national descending order list and in the sixth spot on the school’s all-time indoor performance list.
Sophomore standout Rueben Twijukye and freshman phenom Jamaal James took the top two spots in the preliminaries of the men’s half mile with career best times of 1:50.41 and 1:51.07, respectively, while senior Jeffrey Parker is scheduled to compete in the finals of the men’s mile after qualifying with a time of 4:11.37.
“I thought the guys really competed well in the meet today, and I’m very pleased with their performance so far,” Shaver said. “We’re sneaking people through that are performing better than how they performed during the regular season, and that’s what you want in a championship meet like this. I expect that they will continue to do the same tomorrow.”
The third and final day of competition is scheduled to begin Sunday at 9 a.m. CST with the men’s weight throw, while the day’s first running events follow at 12:30 p.m. with the finals of the men’s 60-meter hurdles. Conference champions for both the men and the women will be crowned following the women’s 4x400-meter relay slated to begin at 3:55 p.m.
