HAMMOND, La. - Louisiana Tech’s women registered 18 top-five finishes and five event wins as Tech competed at the Southeastern Invitational Friday on the Southeastern Louisiana campus in Hammond.
Tech’s throwers shined in the ring with Marcella LeBlanc winning the shot put with a season-best throw of 48-4.5 (14.74m), winning the event by more than two feet. Micara Vassell placed third in the shot put with a mark of 45-9.25 (13.95m) but won the discus by almost 10 feet with a throw of 152-2 (46.38m). Jasmine LeBlanc, throwing 142-10 (43.55m), finished second in the discus with a season-best throw.
Unsurprisingly, Chelsea Hayes won the long jump with a jump of 21-9 (6.63m) while Tia Mitchell jumped 20-2.25 (6.15m) – a personal best my over 18 inches – to finish third. It is unknown if any of the marks will be eligible for the NCAA performance list and postseason selection as wind readings were not reported in sprints and jumps. If the marks are wind legal, that would push Hayes to third in the nation (first in the east region) in the long jump and Mitchell to 36th in the nation (21st in the east region) and put the two jumpers in the range for NCAA selection.
Hayes also was dominant on the track, running the second leg of the 4x100m relay that won with a time of 45.41. Hayes was joined by Kimberly Smith, Stacia Hanneman andVictoria Wade on that team. The 4x400m relay team of Taneka Henderson, Aldresha Bailey, Reyna Anderson and Diamond Every won with a time of 3:43.32.
Smith excelled in the sprints as well, finishing second in the 100m dash with a time of 11.83 while Wade finished third with a time of 11.97 and Kim Francis ran 12.12 to finish fourth. In the 200m dash, Hanneman finished second with a time of 24.42 and Francis ran 24.87 to place fourth.
Anderson and Dominique Crosby finished second and third, respectively, in the 400m dash with Anderson running a personal best 56.15 and Crosby running 56.49.
Mary Kate Hays placed second in the 3,000m run with a personal best time of 11:14.87.
On the men’s side, Joshua Cox won the javelin with a throw of 208-2 (63.44m) while Noah Riche finished third with a mark of 176-5 (53.77m).
In the hurdles, Kendall Hayes won with a time of 14.43 while Alwayne Green won the 800m run with a time of 1:52.47.Jermaine Morris finished second in the 800m with a time of 1:54.06
Louisiana Tech returns to the track Saturday, competing at the LSU Alumni Gold in Baton Rouge.
For complete coverage of Tech Track and Field, please visit the official home of Louisiana Tech Athletics at LATechSports.com.