LSU Middle Distance Runners Improve Times in Iowa

Middle Distance Runners Improve Times in Iowa
Courtesy: LSU Sports Interactive
          Release: 03/03/2007
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LSU's Meisue Francis
View larger Courtesy: Bryan Wayne
LSU's Meisue Francis

AMES, Iowa -- LSU head coach Dennis Shaver sent three of his track athletes to the Cyclone National Qualifier on Saturday, and senior Meisue Francis and sophomore Rueben Twijukye responded by improving their NCAA provisional qualifying times in the 800 meters.

Both Francis and Twijukye clocked new indoor personal best times in the half mile and have put themselves in a strong position to receive an invitation to compete at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., beginning Friday.

“It looks as if we will have two athletes competing in the 800 at the national meet on both the men’s and women’s side,” Shaver said. “We already had Jamaal James and LaTavia Thomas into the meet with what they did at the SEC Indoors last week, and now it looks like Rueben is in for sure. We still have to wait and see with Meisue, but she’s in the national meet at this time.”

Twijukye entered the meet having run a seasonal best time of 1 minute, 49.92 seconds in a fourth-place finish at the SEC Indoor Championships a week ago, and clocked his first NCAA provisional qualifying time of the season with a 1:48.70 at the Lied Athletic Center on Saturday. His time moves him into the No. 7 spot on the national descending order list and is the second-fastest indoor time in school history.

Francis ran a seasonal best time of 2:07.76 at the Tyson Invitational on Feb. 10 and improved upon that provisional qualifying time by clocking a 2:06.02 on Saturday. She also improves upon her previous indoor best by more than one second and is now ranked among the Top 15 performers in the country and No. 5 on the school’s all-time indoor performance list.

Freshman quarter-miler Armanti Hayes was unable to improve upon his already established NCAA provisional qualifying time in the 400 meters as he ran a time of 47.21 at the Cyclone National Qualifier. It is unlikely that Hayes will compete in the event at the NCAA meet as his seasonal best time of 47.04 set at the SEC Championships ranked him at No. 28 on the national performance list entering today’s competition.

The Tigers and Lady Tigers will close out the indoor season next weekend as they are set to compete in the NCAA Indoor Championships on Friday and Saturday at the Randal Tyson Track Center on the campus of the University of Arkansas. The NCAA is scheduled to release its list of declared athletes competing in the national meet at 8 p.m. CST on Monday.