(02/15/2008) BY www.LSUsports.net
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- Despite lining up against many of the nation’s premier 60-meter sprinters at the college and professional levels, LSU’s Trindon Holliday outlasted them all to win the event title Friday evening in the professional portion of the Tyson Invitational.
Holliday, who lined up in Lane 6, crossed the finish line with a new personal best of 6.60 seconds to edge Leonard Scott (6.62) for the title at the Randal Tyson Track Center. Scott is coming off of a seasonal best performance at the 101st Millrose Games two weeks ago when he won the 60-meter title in 6.59. Defending NCAA champion Travis Padgett of Clemson took third place at 6.68, while the reigning World Outdoor bronze medalist at 200 meters Wallace Spearmon finished a distant fourth at 6.73. “I knew it was going to be a fast race with a field like this, so I was concentrating on hitting my start hard,” Holliday said. “Honestly, I didn’t hit as good of a start as I was hoping. Leonard Scott got out fast, so I had to maintain and finish my drive phase before finishing the race strong.” Holliday has clocked personal best times in the 60-meter dash in back-to-back weeks after finishing runner-up to teammate Richard Thompson at the New Balance Collegiate Invitational in New York last weekend with a time of 6.61 in the final. “I’m pretty happy with how I ran, but there are always things I need to improve on,” Holliday said. “It’s all about peaking at the right time. I feel pretty good about where I’m at right now, but I want to keep improving so I can be in a position to win at the SEC and NCAA Championships. That’s my goal for the next few weeks.” The Lady Tigers were the first to step on the track during the evening session as the 4x400-meter relay team ran away from the rest of the field to win the event title by more than one second. The foursome of senior Brooklynn Morris, junior Nickiesha Wilson, sophomore LaTavia Thomas and senior Deonna Lawrence combined to carry the stick around the track in a time of 3 minutes, 35.01 seconds. The South Carolina Gamecocks were their nearest competitor at 3:36.37. In addition, senior Elkana Kosgei made his LSU debut during professional portion of the meet on Friday night and clocked a 1:50.64 to finish seventh in the men’s invitational 800-meter run, while sophomore John Kosgei finished seventh in the men’s mile with a time of 4:02.40. The professional portion of the Tyson Invitational, including Holliday’s thrilling victory, will be broadcast to a national audience on a tape-delay basis by ESPN on Sunday from 4-6 p.m. CT. The second day of competition at the Tyson Invitational is scheduled to get underway Saturday at 10 a.m. Following their return to Baton Rouge, the Tigers and Lady Tigers will play host to the LSU Twilight Invitational on Feb. 22 before making the trip back to the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville for the SEC Indoor Championships beginning Feb. 29.