BATON ROUGE -- Senior Ryan Fontenot and sophomores Will Coppage and Katelyn Rodrigue are one step closer to competing at the NCAA Indoor Championships after posting strong NCAA provisional qualifying marks at the LSU Twilight on Friday night.
Coppage improved his seasonal best performance in the long jump with a mark of 25 feet, 4 ¾ inches, while Rodrigue followed with a clearance of 13-6 ½ in the pole vault and Fontenot set a new personal best of 7.78 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles.
“Some of the people that we felt could make a major contribution for us in the championship meets had a big breakthrough tonight,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “I think the biggest was probably Will Coppage and his performance in the long jump. He’s struggled this season, but he put together a really great series of jumps tonight that will likely get him into the NCAA meet.
“Katelyn and Ryan could very well score for us at NCAA Championships if they repeat those performances in a few weeks. Katelyn is very consistent and continues to improve, and Ryan is just a great competitor. I’m really happy for him because of the dedication and improvement he’s shown in our program from year to year.”
Coppage stepped onto the long jump runway without an NCAA qualifying mark to his credit this season but walked away from the competition with the 10th-longest jump in the NCAA at 25-4 ¾ on his sixth and final jump of the afternoon en route to winning the event title.
The Alexandria native smashed his seasonal best jump of 24-1 that he set in a sixth-place effort at the Bayou Bengal Invitational on Feb. 1.
Coppage earned indoor All-America honors a year ago as a freshman after finishing fifth at the national meet with an overall personal best mark of 25-6 ¼. He is poised to continue that success as he qualified for the NCAA meet with a seasonal best mark of 25-2 ¼ last season.
“This was big for me because I didn’t really have a lot of confidence coming into the meet,” Coppage said. “I knew I had a big jump in me because I did it last year. I just felt a lot more relaxed today than I’ve felt all season, and I felt really strong heading into the final. I tried not to think about it too much. I focused myself for a big jump and hit it.”
Rodrigue followed minutes later with a strong NCAA provisional mark of her own as she cleared her own school record in the pole vault on her third attempt at a height of 13-6 ½.
Never before has a Lady Tiger competed in the pole vault at the NCAA Indoor Championships, and Rodrigue is looking to become the first as her performance at the LSU Twilight places her in a tie for the No. 9 spot in the NCAA with just two meets remaining before the start of nationals.
The New Orleans native has set and broken her own indoor school record a total of seven times since donning the purple and gold for the first time as a freshman, and she is poised to compete at the NCAA Indoor Championships for the first time as 13-5 ¼ was the lowest mark accepted into the national meet during the 2007 indoor season.
“It feels good to know I’ve got a mark that will probably get me into the NCAA meet,” Rodrigue said. “I’m glad that I was able to get it done here so that I can relax and focus on scoring points for our team at SECs next week. I love competing under pressure, and I definitely felt it standing on the runway for that third attempt. I feed off of that.”
Rodrigue credits the use of a new pole for her performance on Friday as she entered the meet with a seasonal best clearance of 13-1 ½ set three weeks ago at the Bayou Bengal Invitational.
“I’m using a bigger pole now than I have at any other point in the season, and this was actually my first time ever using it in competition,” Rodrigue said. “I’m also holding it higher. I think I’ll be able to go even higher with my jumps as I get used to it. I need to work on getting better so I can score some points for our team at SECs and NCAAs.”
Fontenot continued the excitement for the Tigers by crossing the finish line in 7.78 in the final to win the event title with the eighth-fastest time recorded in the collegiate ranks this season.
Like Rodrigue, Fontenot is looking to compete at the NCAA Indoor Championships for the first time in his career. Fontenot showed his poise as his seasonal best performance was recorded after the finalists were called back to the starting blocks following a faulty blast by the starter’s pistol.
“I was actually happy that they called us back because I didn’t get off to a very good start,” Fontenot said. “I had a much better start the second time. I probably didn’t get out as fast as in the past, but my reaction was very good. After the start, I really turned it over the last three or four hurdles. It wasn’t the prettiest race I’ve ever run, but it was the fastest.
“I can relax a little bit now that I’m pretty much in the NCAA meet. That’s the main thing right now. There are some things I still need to work on and sharpen up, and I can work more on the technical aspect of the race in practice instead of worrying about running a fast time.”
Four other LSU athletes enjoyed personal best performances at the LSU Twilight Invitational on Friday night, including freshman Zedric Thomas in the triple jump (49-11), senior Christy Zirkle in the mile (5:17.19), sophomore Chris Bless in the weight throw (51-11 ¾) and freshman Lauren Saucier in the pole vault (11-9).
The LSU throwers are also building momentum for the postseason as several athletes performed at or better than their seasonal best performances to this point in the campaign.
Junior Rabun Fox won the weight throw title after unleashing a throw of 61-11 ¾, while junior Ricky Jean-Francois won the shot put title with a throw of 56-7 ¼ and sophomore Kim Williams finished runner-up in the women’s weight throw with a mark of 53-5 ¾.
The Tigers and Lady Tigers are set to begin the championship season next weekend as they head to Fayetteville, Ark., for the third time this season to compete in the SEC Indoor Championships beginning Friday at the Randal Tyson Track Center. The NCAA Indoor Championships return to Fayetteville for the eighth straight season as this year’s meet is scheduled from March 14-15.