FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Junior All-American Damar Forbes certainly lived up to his billing as an NCAA Championships contender in the men's long jump with another dominating victory Friday night at the 2012 Tyson Invitational as he emerged as the new NCAA leader with his mark of 26 feet, 7 ¾ inches to highlight the action at the Randal Tyson Track Center.
Forbes became LSU's third NCAA qualifier for the season while leading a group of four Tigers and Lady Tigers with performances that rank among the Top 10 of the NCAA rankings for 2012.
Forbes took control of the competition early with a mark of 25-10 on his second jump of the prelim round to soar past the previous leading mark of 24-11 ¾ by Nebraska's Chris Phipps in the first round.
That's when Forbes soared to the top of the NCAA rankings on his third jump with a new indoor personal record of 26-7 ¾ to eclipse the previous national leader of 26-7 set by Marquise Goodwin of Texas during the Razorback Invitational on Jan. 27. Ole Miss standout Caleb Lee took second place with his series best of 25-3 ¼ on his third attempt, while Phipps followed in third place overall.
Forbes captured his third long jump championship of the 2012 campaign with a mark that ranks No. 3 all-time indoors by an LSU Tiger, trailing only John Moffitt (27-1 ¾) and Walter Davis (26-9).
A native of Decatur, Ga., Forbes soared past his previous seasonal best of 26-0 ¾ from his win at the New Balance Collegiate Invitational a week ago. That performance earned Forbes SEC Men's Field Athlete of the Week honors after sweeping long jump and triple jump titles at The Armory in New York.
"It felt long overdue," Forbes said of his performance in winning the Tyson Invitational long jump title. "I feel like I should have been jumping that all along. The biggest thing for me is that I've been consistent with my performance all year. I want to stay consistent because I want to win titles for the team. That's an important thing when trying to compete week in and week out."
Competitors in the men's 400-meter dash set the track on fire during Friday's opening day of action at the Randal Tyson Track Center as a pair of LSU Tigers in senior Riker Hylton and junior Caleb Williams were among seven sprinters to crack the NCAA's Top 10 in the event with their seasonal bests.
Williams clocked a 2012 seasonal best of 46.31 seconds to take second place in the first section of the 400 meters while nearly chasing down Marek Niit of Arkansas (46.28) for the heat win.
Hylton followed with a seasonal-best effort of his own in the event's second section as he placed fourth in the race at 46.72 to finish behind the likes of Akheem Gauntlett of Arkansas (46.23), Neil Braddy of Arkansas (46.28) and Torrin Lawrence of Georgia (46.53) for the win.
When the dust settled, Williams emerged as the NCAA's No. 4-ranked quartermiler indoors this season at 46.31 and Hylton followed as the No. 9-ranked performer in the NCAA at 46.72 for 400 meters.
With their effort, the Arkansas trio of Gauntlett, Braddy and Niit posted the NCAA's three fastest times to this point of the indoor season. Lawrence followed with the sixth-fastest time in the NCAA this season, while Marquis Holston of Norfolk State clocked the No. 7-ranked time nationally at 46.54 to finish first in the fourth 400-meter section of the afternoon. Post-collegiate athlete Frankie Wright won the event crown at the 2012 Tyson Invitational with his winning time of 45.72 in the eighth heat.
Williams, who owns an indoor PR of 46.08 that was set at the Randal Tyson Track Center a year ago, said he expects Friday's competition to serve as an NCAA Championships preview in the event.
"This is probably the best track we run on indoors. I'm not surprised with what happened," Williams said. "I feel good in my progression so far this year. My goal is to really peak at the right time and run fast later on at SECs and NCAAs when it really counts. I know we'll see those guys again."
LSU's sprinters were also impressive in their performance through three rounds of the 60-meter dash held Friday with junior All-American Kimberlyn Duncan leading the way with back-to-back PRs and emerging as one of the NCAA's Top 5 performers in the event for the 2012 season.
After opening with the third-fastest time of the qualifying round at 7.36, Duncan followed by posting 7.28 to advance to the final as the second-fastest qualifier of the semifinal round behind Central Florida's star freshman Octavious Freeman (7.19). Duncan then finished runner-up to Freeman (7.20) again in the finals with her second PR of the day at 7.26 to move into the No. 5 spot in the NCAA rankings for 2012.
Fellow junior Takeia Pinckney joined Duncan in the women's championship final of the 60-meter dash as she clocked a seasonal best 7.34 to advance as the fifth-fastest qualifier of the semifinal round. She earned a fourth-place finish in the final at 7.37 after running the NCAA's No. 11-ranked time in the semifinal.
The Tigers were just as impressive on the strength of their efforts in the men's 60 meters with both seniorKeyth Talley and junior Rynell Parson advancing through three rounds and into Friday's final.
Parson matched his collegiate best in his runner-up finish in the championship final as he clocked 6.69 for the No. 20-ranked performance in the NCAA for the 2012 season. Parson earned his spot in the final after running 6.76 in the qualifying round and 6.72 to win his semifinal heat. After opening with a time of 6.71 in the first round, Talley clocked back-to-back times of 6.70 en route to a third place finish overall.
Friday also witnessed the Lady Tigers shatter their 15-year-old school record in the distance medley relay with an effort that wrapped up the day as the No. 16-ranked performance in the NCAA.
While racing with a foursome of junior Charlene Lipsey (1,200 meters), senior Jonique Day (400 meters), freshman Samantha Levin (800 meters) and junior Laura Carleton (mile), the Lady Tigers blew away the field with their efforts of 11 minutes, 18.75 seconds to finish well ahead of Western Michigan (11:50.58). That time eclipsed the previous school record of 11:29.72 set in 1997.
In addition, three Tigers and Lady Tigers advanced to Saturday's championship finals in the 60 hurdles as senior Barrett Nugent, junior Shanekia Hall and sophomore Jasmin Stowers are scheduled to run Saturday during the meet's USA Track & Field Indoor Classic finale for the Tyson Invitational.
The Lady Tigers cruised through two rounds of qualifying in the women's 60-meter hurdles with Stowers running the second-fastest time of the semifinal round at 8.18 and Hall recording a personal record at 8.28 for the fourth-fastest time of the semifinal round en route to their appearance in Saturday's final.
After clocking 7.74 for the second-fastest time of the preliminary round, Nugent followed in the semifinal round with a time of 7.82 to advance as the sixth-fastest qualifier into the men's final.
Other LSU athletes who enjoyed personal-best performances indoors during Friday's action at the Randal Tyson Track Center on the first day of the competition include senior Ade Alleyne-Forte in the 400-meter dash (47.56), freshman Rodney Brown in the shot put (53-3), freshman Trevor Sansone in the 60-meter dash (6.85), and freshman Montenae Roye-Speight in the 400-meter dash (55.58).
The action at the 2012 Tyson Invitational on Saturday at 10 a.m. CT with the field events, followed by the first events on the track at 10:30 a.m. at the Randal Tyson Track Center.
Fans of the LSU Track & Field program with a subscription to the Geaux Zone can watch both the Tigers and Lady Tigers in action at the Tyson Invitational by accessing the Geaux Zone homepage at www.LSUsports.net/live. As a fellow NeuLion client, the University of Arkansas will share the live video of this year's Tyson Invitational as part of its RazorVision premier feature.
Live updates throughout the meet will also be available on the official Facebook and Twitter pages for the LSU Track & Field program. To receive these live updates, fans are invited to like LSU Track & Field on Facebook and follow @LSUTrackField on Twitter beginning with Saturday's action.