LSU Track & Field Posts Top 6 Finishes at NCAA's

COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- A total of 11 LSU athletes enjoyed All-America performances on the final day of competition at the 2009 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships as the two-day meet wrapped up the indoor season Saturday at the Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium.

The Tigers took their place on the awards stand with a fourth-place finish in the team race with 29 points over the course of two days of competition, while the Lady Tigers scored 28 points as a team to finish in sole possession of sixth place in the women’s standings this weekend.

The Oregon Ducks ran away with the men’s team title after racking up 54 points as Florida was a distant second with 36 points followed by Florida State in third place with 32 points. Tennessee is this year’s women’s team champion following its 42-point performance, while host Texas A&M took second with 37 points and BYU finished third with 33 points to round out the top three.

The meet is scheduled for a nationally-televised tape-delay broadcast by ESPN2 on March 23 at 1:30 p.m. CT. Archived footage of the meet can also be found online at www.ESPN360.com.

“I thought the kids competed extremely well both days of the track meet,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “When you get to the last day of a championship meet like this, you have to have your people step it up to score the big points you need. I wish we had a little bit more of that, but I am very happy with those who had the opportunity to get out there and compete today.”

Junior sprinter Trindon Holliday led the LSU charge on the meet’s final day as he was the NCAA runner-up in the 60-meter dash for the second-straight season.

Holliday, who finished second to teammate and LSU great Richard Thompson NCAA final of the 60-meter dash a year ago, matched his time in Friday’s qualifying round with a clocking of 6.55 seconds in Saturday’s final to finish as the national runner-up to Clemson’s Jacoby Ford (6.52). It marks the fourth time that Holliday has earned All-America honors in an individual event.

While Holliday scored eight points for the Tigers with his second-place finish, sophomore Walter Henning and freshman Robert Simmons each added five points to the team total with fourth-place finishes in the 35-pound weight throw and 400-meter dash, respectively.

Henning is only the second Tiger to earn All-America honors in the weight throw with his toss of 73 feet, 4 ¼ inches on Saturday, joining former LSU standout Dave Paddison in 1993 as the only Tigers to score points in the weight throw at the NCAA Indoor Championships in school history.

After clocking the fastest qualifying time of 46.63 on Friday, Simmons followed with a 46.28 in a two-heat final to earn his first career All-America honor in his NCAA Indoor debut.

Not only that, but Simmons anchored LSU’s 4x400-meter relay team to All-America honors with a sixth-place finish in the meet’s final event. While running with a foursome of junior Armanti Hayes, freshman Ade Alleyne-Forte, sophomore Jamar Howard and Simmons, the Tigers clocked a time of 3 minutes, 8.47 seconds in the second of three heats to place sixth overall in the event.

“I think the thing that sticks out to me for both teams at this meet is that we had a number of new people stepping it up and scoring points for our team,” Shaver said. “It’s not just the youth with a number of freshmen who performed very well, but it’s also having people who are inexperienced in the championship meets raising their performance to a level where they could contribute.

“We saw that all weekend from guys like Robert Simmons in the open quarter, as well as several of our newcomers running on the relay. That was very encouraging for us to see from that group.”

While six Tigers earned All-America status during Saturday’s action at the NCAA Indoor meet, a total of five Lady Tigers were honored as point scorers in leading LSU to a sixth-place finish.

Sophomore Kenyanna Wilson earned individual All-America honors in her first appearance at the NCAA Indoor Championships after sprinting to an impressive third-place finish in the final of the 60-meter dash. Wilson, who was an All-American as a member of LSU’s 4x100-meter relay team a year ago, became an individual All-American for the first time with a time of 7.27 on Saturday.

Wilson teamed with junior Samantha Henry in the event as Henry crossed the finish line in a time of 7.34 to take seventh place and earn her second individual All-America honor of the weekend. Henry also recorded a seventh-place finish in the 200-meter final on Friday night.

A trio of Lady Tigers added four points to LSU’s final point total with fifth-place finishes in their respective events, including senior Andrea Linton in the triple jump, junior LaTavia Thomas in the 800 meters and true freshman Rachel Laurent in the pole vault.

Linton was the first Lady Tiger to compete on Saturday and responded with a seasonal-best effort to earn her fourth career All-America honor in the jumps in her final meet as a Lady Tiger.

The native of Spanish Town, Jamaica, who entered the meet ranked No. 17 nationally in the triple jump, stepped up her performance in a big way and earned a fifth-place finish after posting a seasonal-best mark of 43-5 ¼ on her fifth jump of the competition. Linton wrapped up her career on Saturday as she is without another season of outdoor eligibility.

Although Linton’s career has come to an end, Laurent’s is off to a fast start as she made history at the Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium by becoming the first Lady Tiger to reach All-America status in the pole vault. Laurent placed fifth in her debut at the NCAA Championships when she cleared a height of 13-7 ¼ on her first attempt. She finished the indoor season with a top mark of 14-0 ½.

While Thomas was unable to successfully defend her NCAA Indoor crown in the 800 meters, she did pick up her third career individual All-America honor with the fifth-fastest time at 2:04.89.

“From where we started this season with the women’s team, I thought we would really struggle to put together a competitive team that could come to this meet and perform,” Shaver said. “But our kids did a great job of stepping it up and competing over the last few weeks. We started to see it at the SEC meet a couple of weeks ago, and they came here and had a great meet.

“It’s also great to see people like Andrea Linton go out the way she did with a All-American kind of performance when she wasn’t even supposed to score at the track meet. We also got a glimpse of the future in people like Kenyanna Wilson and Rachel Laurent and the way they performed.”

With the 2009 indoor season now in the books, the Tigers and Lady Tigers turn their attention to the outdoor season that is scheduled to kick off next weekend at the Louisiana Classics to be held in Lafayette, La., on March 20-21. LSU will play host to its first outdoor meet of the season at the Bernie Moore Track Stadium from March 27-28 with the LSU Tiger Relays.

2009 NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships Results
Saturday at Gilliam Indoor Stadium in College Station, Texas (All race distances in meters)

Men

60
1. Jacoby Ford, Clemson, 6.52; 2. Trindon Holliday, LSU, 6.55; 3. Terrell Wilks, Florida, 6.61; 4. Adam Harris, Michigan, 6.62; 5. Rondel Sorrillo, Kentucky, 6.63; 6. Gerald Phiri, Texas A&M, 6.63; 7. Michael Ray Garvin, Florida State, 6.66; 8. Teddy Williams, UT-San Antonio, 6.70.

400
1. Michael Bingham, Wake Forest, 45.69; 2. Gil Roberts, Texas Tech, 45.71; 3. Jordan Boase, Washington, 46.20; 4. Robert Simmons, LSU, 46.28; 5. Jarrin Solomon, New Mexico, 46.55; 6. Calvin Smith, Florida, 46.59; 7. Justin Oliver, Texas A&M, 46.61; 8. Lejerald Betters, Baylor, 46.85.

800
1. Jacob Hernandez, Texas, 1:48.04; 2. Andrew Wheating, Oregon, 1:48.54; 3. Tyler Mulder, Northern Iowa, 1:48.57; 4. Mike Rutt, Connecticut, 1:48.58; 5. Chris Gowell, Baylor, 1:48.78; 6. Tevan Everett, Texas, 1:49.13; 7. Carlos Phillips, Florida, 1:50.34; 8. Brian Gagnon, Connecticut, 1:52.28.

Mile
1. Lee Emanuel, New Mexico, 4:00.36; 2. Craig Miller, Wisconsin, 4:01.34; 3. Dorian Ulrey, Arkansas, 4:02.19; 4. David McCarthy, Providence, 4:02.24; 5. Hayden McLaren, Providence, 4:02.51; 6. Matthew Centrowitz, Oregon, 4:02.69; 7. Justin Switzer, Michigan, 4:02.99; 8. Mark Davidson, Tulsa, 4:03.09.

3,000
1. Galen Rupp, Oregon, 7:48.94; 2. Michael Coe, California, 7:54.42; 3. Elliott Heath, Stanford, 7:54.59; 4. Hassan Mead, Minnesota, 7:56.15; 5. Chris Derrick, Stanford, 7:56.31; 6. Matt Leeder, Florida State, 7:59.16; 7. Chris Rombough, Minnesota, 8:00.37; 8. Patrick Smyth, Notre Dame, 8:01.65.

60 hurdles
1. Ronnie Ash, Bethune-Cookman, 7.63; 2. Omo Osaghae, Texas Tech, 7.64; 3. Johnny Dutch, South Carolina, 7.71; 4. Kirkland Thornton, Nebraska, 7.75; 5. Myles Bradley, Stanford, 7.85; 6. Andrew Riley, Illinois, 7.87; 7. Dennis Martin, Florida, 7.88; 8. Josh Hembrough, Purdue, 7.94.

4x400
1. Baylor, 3:05.81; 2. Florida State, 3:05.97; 3. Florida, 3:07.51; 4. South Carolina, 3:07.83; 5. Texas A&M, 3:08.46; 6. LSU, 3:08.47; 7. Texas Tech, 3:08.90; 8. Washington State, 3:08.97.

High Jump
1. Scott Sellers, Kansas State, 7-4 ½; 2. Derek Drouin, Indiana, 7-0 ¼; T3. Raymond Harris, Texas, 7-0 ¼; T3. Dwight Barbiasz, Maryland, 7-0 ¼; T3. Ed Wright, California, 7-0 ¼; T3. Ryan Fritz, Penn State, 7-0 ¼; 7. Manjula Wijesekara, Southern California, 7-0 ¼; 8. Trent Arrivey, Washington State, 6-10 ¼.

Triple Jump
1. Christian Taylor, Florida, 55-8 ½; 2. Will Claye, Oklahoma, 55-1 ½; 3. Zuheir Sharif, Texas A&M, 53-6 ¼; 4. Ryan Grinnell, Boise State, 53-3; 5. Nkosinza Balumbu, Arkansas, 53-0 ¼; 6. Julian Reid, Texas A&M, 52-11; 7. Austin Davis, North Carolina, 52-10 ¼; 8. Alphonso Jordan, Georgia Tech, 52-9 ¼.

Weight Throw
1. Jason Lewis, Arizona State, 75-0 ¾; 2. Steffen Nerdal, Memphis, 73-11 ½; 3. Chris Rohr, Missouri, 73-4 ½; 4. Walter Henning, LSU, 73-4 ½; 5. Simon Wardhaugh, Boise State, 71-0 ½; 6. Boldizsar Kocsor, UCLA, 70-5 ¼; 7. Jake Shanklin, Wyoming, 69-5 ½; 8. Marcel Lomnicky, Virginia Tech, 68-10 ½.

Heptathlon
1. Ashton Eaton, Oregon, 5,988; 2. Gonzalo Barroilhet, Florida State, 5,879; 3. Bjorn Barrefors, Nebraska, 5,795; 4. Nick Adcock, Missouri, 5,719; 5. Moritz Cleve, Kansas State, 5,657; 6. Pelle Rietveld, Florida State, 5,620; 7. Daniel Keller, North Carolina, 5,589; 8. John Strang, Utah State, 5,532.

TOP 10 TEAM SCORES (17 events scored)
1. Oregon, 54; 2. Florida, 36; 3. Florida State, 32; 4. LSU, 29; T5. Baylor, 25; T5. Nebraska, 25; T5. Arizona State, 25; 8. Arkansas, 24; 9. Texas A&M, 23; 10. Texas, 22.5.

Women

60
1. LaKya Brookins, South Carolina, 7.13; 2. Alexandria Anderson, Texas, 7.24; 3. Kenyanna Wilson, LSU, 7.27; 4. Jessica Young, TCU, 7.27; 5. Murielle Ahoure, Miami (Fla.), 7.27; 6. Charonda Williams, Arizona State, 7.32; 7. Samantha Henry, LSU, 7.34; 8. Porscha Lucas, Texas A&M, 7.36.

400
1. Francena McCorory, Hampton, 51.55; 2. Jessica Beard, Texas A&M, 51.77; 3. Valerie Brown, Western Kentucky, 52.76; 4. Joanna Atkins, Auburn, 53.12; 5. Lajada Baldwin, Ole Miss, 53.28; 6. Keshia Baker, Oregon, 53.39; 7. Alexandria Spruiel, North Carolina A&T, 53.67; 8. Joanna Schultz, Notre Dame, 54.06.

800
1. Lacey Cramer, BYU, 2:04.27; 2. Phoebe Wright, Tennessee, 2:04.38; 3. Heather Dorniden, Minnesota, 2:04.43; 4. Katie Palmer, BYU, 2:04.75; 5. LaTavia Thomas, LSU, 2:04.89; 6. Geena Gall, Michigan, 2:05.39; 7. Laura Hermanson, North Dakota State, 2:05.53; 8. Kate Grace, Yale, 2:07.77.

Mile
1. Sarah Bowman, Tennessee, 4:29.72; 2. Sally Kipyego, Texas Tech, 4:29.75; 3. Kellyn Johnson, Wichita State, 4:34.41; 4. Pilar McShine, Florida State, 4:36.87; 5. Brie Felnagle, North Carolina, 4:37.00; 6. Lennie Waite, Rice, 4:38.60; 7. Brenda Martinez, UC-Riverside, 4:39.58; 8. Charlotte Browning, Florida, 4:40.25.

3,000
1. Jenny Barringer, Colorado, 8:42.03; 2. Susan Kuijken, Florida State, 8:56.27; 3. Lauren Centrowitz, Stanford, 9:14.35; 4. Angela Bizzarri, Illinois, 9:15.50; 5. Katie Follett, Washington, 9:15.73; 6. Nicole Blood, Oregon, 9:15.84; 7. Laurynne Chetelat, Stanford, 9:16.12; 8. Alicia Follmar, Stanford, 9:16.48.

60 hurdles
1. Tiffany Ofili, Michigan, 8.00; 2. Celriece Law, Tennessee, 8.04; 3. Kristi Castlin, Virginia Tech, 8.07; 4. Aleesha Barber, Penn State, 8.20; 5. Tiki James, Central Florida, 8.20; 6. Karessa Farley, Iowa, 8.23; 7. Jackie Coward, Central Florida, 8.34; 8. Vanneisha Ivy, North Carolina, 8.43.

4x400
1. Texas A&M, 3:32.52; 2. Arizona State, 3:34.30; 3. Penn State, 3:34.64; 4. TCU, 3:36.51; 5. South Carolina, 3:36.61; 6. Texas, 3:36.71; 7. Arkansas, 3:36.90; 8. North Carolina, 3:37.01.

Pole Vault
1. Kylie Hutson, Indiana State, 14-3 ¼; 2. Alicia Rue, Minnesota, 14-1 ¼; 3. Katie Stripling, Arkansas, 13-11 ¼; 4. Gabriella Duclos, Arizona, 13-11 ¼; 5. Rachel Laurent, LSU, 13-7 ¼; T6. Vera Neuenswande, Indiana, 13-7 ¼; T6. KC Dahlgren, Idaho, 13-7 ¼; T6. Melissa Gergel, Oregon, 13-7 ¼.

Triple Jump
1. Kimberly Williams, Florida State, 45-3 ¾; 2. Sarah Nambawa, Middle Tennessee State, 44-4; 3. Karoline Koehler, San Diego State, 44-1 ½; 4. Yasmine Regis, Texas A&M, 44-0 ½; 5. Andrea Linton, LSU, 43-5 ¼; 6. Jeomi Maduka, Cornell, 43-2 ¼; 7. Eleni Kafourou, Boise State, 43-0 ¼; 8. Decontee Kaye, San Diego State, 42-11 ½.

Shot Put
1. Mariam Kevkhishvili, Florida, 58-6 ½; 2. Sarah Stevens, Arizona State, 58-2 ½; 3. Annie Alexander, Tennessee, 57-2; 4. Jordyn Brown, Texas, 55-3 ½; 5. Aja Evans, Illinois, 55-0 ¾; 6. Patience Knight, Texas Tech, 53-6 ½; 7. Mykael Bothum, Idaho, 53-1 ½; 8. Krishna Lee, Missouri, 52-9 ½.

TOP 10 TEAM SCORES (17 events scored)
1. Tennessee, 42; 2. Texas A&M, 37; 3. BYU, 33; 4. Texas, 31; 5. Arizona State, 30; 6. LSU, 28; 7. Penn State, 24; 8. Florida State, 23; T9. Oregon, 19; T9. Texas Tech, 21.