LAFAYETTE, La. - As she did in her outdoor debut a year ago, Lady Tiger junior Samia Stokes opened the 2011 outdoor season with an impressive win in the discus throw to lead the LSU track and field teams during Saturday's action at the Louisiana Classics held at the Ragin' Cajuns Track Stadium.
Stokes, the reigning SEC Outdoor discus champion, defended her Louisiana Classics title with an opening mark of 177 feet, 4 inches on Saturday to finish just inches shy of a new personal best in the event. After opening the 2010 season with a winning mark of 166-1 at the Louisiana Classics, Stokes went on to set a seasonal best and personal best of 177-11 with her effort at the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds with a qualifying performance for the 2010 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships. She also became the first Lady Tiger in 16 years to be crowned the SEC discus champion. With a season-opening mark of 177-4 on Saturday, Stokes already ranks among the national leaders in the event in the early part of the 2011 campaign as she looks to make her return to the NCAA Championships and compete for her first career All-America honors in the discus throw. To put Stokes' performance in perspective, her mark of 177-4 on Saturday would have finished fifth place and earned All-America honors at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Ore., a year ago. As one of the nation's top-ranked discus throwers in the early part of the outdoor season, Stokes is firmly in position to be one of the top 48 performers in the event to earn an invitation to compete in the preliminary rounds of the 2011 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships to be held at the E.C. Billy Hayes Track in Bloomington, Ind., from May 26-28. The top 48 performers in each individual event and the top 24 relay teams that declare for the post season in both the East and West regions will compete in the NCAA Preliminary Rounds. E.C. Billy Hayes Track on the campus of Indiana University will serve as the East site, while Hayward Field on the campus of the University of Oregon in Eugene will serve as the West site. In all, 96 individuals and 48 relay teams nationwide will compete in the preliminary rounds of the NCAA Outdoor Championships scheduled to run from May 26-28. Drake Stadium at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, will play host to the semifinal and final round at the 2011 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships from June 8-11. Stokes led a group of four event winners for LSU during this year's Louisiana Classics as freshmanKeith Griffith set a new lifetime personal record to win the men's 400-meter dash with a time of 47.40 seconds, junior Richard Chautin ran a PR of his own at 3 minutes, 57.08 seconds to win the men's 1,500-meter run and junior Brieanna Kennedy nearly set a PR with a mark of 171-11 to win the women's hammer throw. Senior Ross Roubion actually kicked off the first day of action at this year's Louisiana Classics on Friday night by shattering his own personal best in the men's hammer throw by nearly eight feet. After beginning the competition with a PR of 192-4, Roubion threw the hammer 200-3 to finish in third place overall with the No. 8-ranked performance on LSU's all-time outdoor performance list in the event. The LSU javelin throwers also enjoyed a solid start to the 2011 outdoor season as All-SEC throwerAaron Moore (215-5) and freshman Annie Simoneaux (143-9) each earned third-place finishes. Lady Tiger frosh Jenna Baker set a new PR of 141-0 in a fifth-place finish in the women's javelin throw. In addition, freshman sprinter Toshika Sylvester set a new outdoor personal-best time of 24.06 in the 200-meter dash for a third-place finish Saturday after finishing the indoor season with a lifetime PR of 23.87. After opening the outdoor season at the Louisiana Classics on Saturday, the Tigers and Lady Tigers return to the Bernie Moore Track Stadium in Baton Rouge in each of the next two weekends as they play host to the LSU Relays from March 25-26 and the LSU Invitational on April 2.