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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- The LSU women’s track and field team earned its best finish at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships since the 2004 season as it finished runner-up to national champion Arizona State on Saturday at the Randal Tyson Track Center.
The Lady Tigers tallied 13 points on the second day of the competition to finish just five points shy of the top-ranked Sun Devils with a total of 33 points for the meet. The men’s squad finished in a four-way tie for 10th place in the team standings as the Tigers scored a total of 21 points.
The Wisconsin Badgers came into the meet as the consensus No. 1 team in the country and proved deserving of their lofty ranking by winning the title on the men’s side with a total of 40 points. Florida State took second place with 35 points, while Texas (34), Stanford (28) and Auburn (25) round out the top five.
“It’s just one of those meets where it’s not over until it’s over,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “I thought both teams competed well at the track meet, and the women continue to make progress after finishing seventh here a year ago. We left a few points out there tonight that would have put us in a better position to win, but I don’t have any complaints about how we competed.”
The women’s competition held true to form as it came down to the wire between Arizona State and LSU with senior Amy Hastings clinching the first indoor national title for the Sun Devils. Hastings’ sixth-place finish in the women’s 3,000 meters gave her team a total of 38 points for the meet and the championship.
“You’ve got to give credit to Arizona State because they knew what they had to do to win the track meet when they ran the 3,000,” Shaver said. “Greg (Kraft) told me that the only thing about her not running well in the 5k is that she’s a fighter. If it came down to it and he had to count on somebody, he said he was glad it was going to be her. They did a tremendous job this weekend.”
The squads were led on the second and final day of the championship meet by All-American performances from junior sprint standouts Kelly Baptiste and Sherry Fletcher, freshman half miler Jamaal James and both the men’s and women’s 1,600-meter relay teams.
Baptiste earned All-America honors in the 60-meter dash as she took third place in the event for the second straight year to score six big points for the Lady Tigers. Baptiste has now earned a total of four indoor All-America honors in her LSU career after clocking a time of 7.27 seconds in Saturday’s final to finish behind Auburn’s Kerron Stewart (7.15) and Tennessee’s Courtney Champion (7.19).
The Lady Tigers were the only squad to place two finalists in the 60 meters as Fletcher teamed with Baptiste to earn All-America honors of her own. Fletcher placed eighth in the event with a time of 7.36 in the final heat as she enjoyed a successful meet by not only earning her first career individual All-America honor as a Lady Tiger, but also setting new PRs in both the 60 meters (7.29) and 200 meters (23.24).
On the men’s side, James capped off a sensational indoor campaign with his first career All-America honor in the men’s 800-meter competition in his collegiate debut at the NCAA Indoor Championships. The Trinidadian was the only freshman to earn a spot in the event finals as he took fifth place with a time of 1 minute, 49.69 seconds.
“We had many outstanding individual performances at this track meet, and I’m proud of what our women were able to do in the 60 and Jamaal for what he did as a freshman in the 800,” Shaver said. “Those were some big points scored for our team in those two events, and I couldn’t have asked for anything more from those three individuals.”
Both teams capped the evening with All-American performances in the 1,600-meter relay. The women’s foursome of Brooklynn Morris, Nickiesha Wilson, Cynetheia Rooks and Deonna Lawrence took third place with its second fastest time of the season at 3:30.26. The men’s squad of Siraj Williams, Armanti Hayes, Isa Phillips and Melville Rogers finished fourth with a time of 3:07.11.
Shaver said he was pleased with the success both squads enjoyed at this year’s NCAA meet as the Tigers and Lady Tigers combined for eight individual All-America honors and eight individual personal best marks, while senior Alleyne Lett also set a new school record in the 60 hurdles with a time of 7.70 in Friday’s final heat.
The finals of each event at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships are scheduled to be broadcast in a 90-minute telecast to a national television audience by ESPN2 on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. CDT. The Tigers and Lady Tigers waste no time in returning to the track as they kick off the outdoor season next weekend by traveling to Lafayette, La., to compete in the Louisiana Classic.