After a sluggish start to the Southeastern Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships, the Lady Tigers bounced back Sunday to claim their first conference title since 1999.
No. 1 LSU entered Sunday in sixth place and racked up 133 points – 119 of which came Sunday – in the three-day event.
Not to be outdone, the men’s team tallied 108 points during the championships and finished in second place behind Arkansas, which finished with 124 points.
“It’s like I’ve said all season long, I’m very proud of the way our kids showed up to the meet ready to compete,” LSU coach Dennis Shaver said in a news release. “It was a great team effort by both the men and the women this weekend, and I believe we really helped ourselves at this meet looking ahead to the NCAA meet in two weeks.”
On the individual front, sophomore distance runner John Kosgei took home titles in the 3,000-meters on Saturday and the mile run on Sunday. Kosgei became the second runner in LSU history to run the mile in less than four minutes. He finished the race in 3 minutes, 59.85 seconds.
“My strategy was to take over with two laps to go, but I moved earlier because I felt comfortable doing that,” Kosgei said. “I knew I had it in the last 200 meters. The guy behind me [Arkansas’ Andrew McClary] got close on the last lap, so I found it in myself to run harder.”
Richard Thompson and Trindon Holliday’s battle for supremacy in the 60-meter race continued at the championships as the two sprinters finished 1-2 in the event.
Thompson completed the race in 6.59 seconds while Holliday finished in 6.62 seconds. Florida’s Jeremy Hall came in third place with a time of 6.65 seconds.
Senior Kelly Baptiste set a school and meet record in the 60-meters with a time of 7.13 seconds – the world’s second-fastest time in the event this season.
The two teams combined for nine SEC titles over the weekend, which is the most since LSU earned nine conference titles in 1999.
—- Contact Tyler Batiste at [email protected]