BATON ROUGE- Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns men’s and women’s track and field teams competed in the LSU Bayou Bengal on Friday. Freshmen Chris Roy, Kenneth Bellard and Louis Stevens all earned top 10 finishes and recorded season-high marks in their events.
Roy placed second in the pole vault with a mark of 15 feet, 7 inches. Bellard finished sixth in the triple jump with a season best of 47 feet, 11 inches, and Stevens placed seventh in the 60-meter hurdles with a season-best time of 8.47 seconds.
Head Coach Steve Silvey said he was pleased with the results of the meet and the leadership of these three athletes. “These local freshmen were the highlight of the track meet for us,” he said. Silvey also expressed his gratitude to head football coach Rickey Bustle for allowing six football players to compete on the track team. These players include: Brad Bustle, Antwyne Zanders, Jordan Folse, Lance Kelly, Jason Chery and Verlin Moore. “We really appreciate Coach Bustle’s support of our track and field program" said Silvey. “I feel that for football and track to be successful and win championships both sports have to work together.
Chery and Moore both competed in the 60-meter dash with Chery placing 22nd in the prelims with a time of 7.14 seconds. “Chery has the ability to be the top sprinter in the Sun Belt Conference and even a NCAA All-American in the 60-meter dash indoors and 100-meter dash outdoors if he commits to speed training during the spring” Silvey said. Also recording top 10 finishes for the UL men were Cory Richard and Reese Lee, who placed fifth and seventh respectively in the 800-meter run, and Roderick Houston who placed 10th in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.95 seconds.
For the UL women, Lina Futi placed sixth in the 400-meter dash with a time of 58.94 seconds. Jamie Blue placed 14th in the event recording a time of 1:01.49. Blue also placed 16th in the 200-meter dash with a time of 26.64 seconds.
Paula Parker, Casey Brown and Suzanne Bourdreaux placed ninth, 10th and 11th respectively in the 1-mile run. Quantisha Rambo placed 8th in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 9.15 seconds. The Cajuns track and field teams will next compete in the Cougar Classic in Houston on Saturday, Feb. 9.