Tigers Posts Runner-Up Finish at NCAA\'s; Lady Tigers 7th

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- A win in the 400 meters by sophomore Xavier Carter and a sweep of the meet\'s 4x400-meter relay titles capped an impressive weekend of performances for the LSU track and field team at the NCAA Indoor Championships, as the men finish second and the women placed seventh Saturday evening at the Randal Tyson Track Center.


\"I thought the kids really stepped it up and did a great job,\" said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. \"I have always said that if you can score what you are expected to coming into this meet you have done a good job. If you do more than that the some people have stepped it up and I think we did that.\"


The Tigers\' where projected to score approximately 40 points entering the championships and finished with 45, behind 31 on the final day of competition.


Champion, Arkansas, won the men\'s team title, their 42nd in program history and 19th indoors, with 53 points.


Texas ran away with the women\'s crown, notching 51 points to runner-up Stanford\'s 36. Arizona State (30), North Carolina (29) and Miami (27) and Georgia (27) rounded out the top five, while the Lady Tigers followed with 25 points.


LSU capped the meet with its first ever sweep of the indoor 4x400 relay titles.


The Tiger foursome of Kelly Willie, Reggie Dardar, Melville Rogers and Xavier Carter handily ran away with the men\'s race, clocking a school record time of 3:04.01 to beat the nearest competitor by nearly three full seconds. The time, the fastest by a NCAA team this season, was just off collegiate record pace, falling one-half a second shy of the mark.


The Lady Tigers followed up the win with a victory of their own, claiming gold in the event for the first time since 1996.


The foursome of Brooklynn Morris, Juanita Broaddus, Cynetheia Rooks and Deonna Lawrence clocked the second-fastest time in school history, 3:29.33, in earning the victory.


\"We were ready,\" said anchor leg Lawrence. \"We were ranked No. 1 coming in and there was no reason not to leave No. 1. Everyone really just gave it their all.\"


The two wins came on the heels of one of the most impressive individual performances in Tiger track history as Carter, fresh off a second-place finish in the yesterday\'s 200-meter final, won the 400 crown in blistering 45.28 speed. The time, a new school record and personal record, ranks as the fastest in the world this season.


On the weekend, Carter was just .03 seconds shy of doing something no one in NCAA history had ever done, win both the 200 and 400 meters.


\"I wanted two wins,\" said Carter. \"I came in here to make history, but now I know why no one has ever done it before. It\'s not easy. But believe me I am going to try and do it again next year.\"


With the win Carter broke the four-year old school record of 45.35 set by former Tiger great Alleyne Francique in 2002. He also joined Francique as the only other Tiger in school history to ever win an indoor open quarter title.


Other top performances from the men came from heptathletes Darion Powell and Edwin Billot, who contributed a crucial 11 points towards the Tigers\' team total for their respective third and fourth-place finishes. The duo each garnered All-America honors after posting career-best point totals of 5,707 and 5,652, respectively.


Powell\'s total, which shattered his previous school record mark of 5,521, was highlighted by a season-bests of 8.13 in the 60-meter hurdles and 15-5 in the pole vault before a 2:56.90 effort in the 1,000 meters.


Billot, who began the day in eighth place, used a season-best 8.02 performance in the 60-meter hurdles, a clearance of 15-1 in the pole vault and a field-topping 2:45.97 effort in the 1,000 meters to catapult himself four places in the final standings. His final point ranks as the second-highest in Tiger school history.


On the women\'s side, sophomore Kelly Baptiste scored six points for the Lady Tigers in posting the women\'s top individual finish of the meet. The Trinidad native finished third in the 60-meter dash, clocking the second-fastest time of her career, 7.22 seconds.


Tallying three points for the Lady Tigers was Lawrence in the 400 meters.


Lawrence, who was originally disqualified from the final for a lane violation, was let back into the field less than a half an hour before the race after the running referee reconsidered her original decision and the NCAA committee supported her request to overturn it.


Lawrence made the most of the situation, clocking a personal-best 52.72 in finishing sixth overall. The time, the sixth fastest time in Lady Tiger history, earned her the first All-America honor of her career in the open quarter.


The LSU track and field team will waste no time returning to competition as it opens the outdoor season next Saturday at the Louisiana Classic in Lafayette, La.



FINAL TEAM STANDINGS (Top 10 only)
Men
1. Arkansas, 53
2. LSU, 45
3. Florida State, 41
4. Texas, 35
5. Tennessee, 25
6. Oregon, 23
7. Wisconsin, 22
8. Baylor, 21
9. Florida, 20
10. Arizona, 18

Women
1. Texas, 51
2. Stanford, 36
3. Arizona State, 30
4. North Carolina, 29
5. Miami, 27
5. Georgia, 27
7. LSU, 25
8. Southern California, 21
8. Auburn, 21
10. Northern Arizona, 20
10. South Carolina, 20