Depth is always something a coach looks for in his team. With LSU hurdlers, it is something that has been there for a while. It has been no surprise the Lady Tigers have had one of the nation’s best hurdling duos for the past two years in senior Jessica Ohanaja and junior Nickiesha Wilson. “It’s always been an event that we’ve had tremendous depth in … over the last decade,” said LSU coach Dennis Shaver. Ohanaja has won back-to-back 60-meter hurdles titles at the Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships in 2007 and 2008, while Wilson finished second in the 400-meter hurdles at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in 2007. Wilson is trying for a repeat performance, running the nation’s third-fastest time in the 100-meter hurdles and second-fastest time in the 400-meter hurdles. “She continues each week to get a little bit better in the sprint hurdles,” Shaver said. “It didn’t really happen until we moved outdoors … She’s caught on to a couple things we’ve tried to teach her.” Wilson pulled off an impressive feat this season, winning the 100-meter hurdles at both the Texas Relays and Penn Relays. But not much time has passed since the past time a Lady Tiger accomplished the feat – Ohanaja did it in 2007. “It felt good [this past year] because both of them are big, competitive meets,” Ohanaja said. “I felt that if I was able to do well at Texas Relays, I shouldn’t have a problem at Penn Relays.” Ohanaja said she was excited to see Wilson win both titles this year. “It’s pretty exciting because it’s my teammate beating me, rather than somebody else doing it,” Ohanaja said. Shaver said he has mixed feelings about the past two years’ results at the Texas and Penn Relays. “Nickiesha has done it by improving [her technique] and Jessica’s done it by not improving [her technique],” Shaver said. “Both of them had some of the similar technical issues that we were trying to correct. The reason that Nickiesha is improving is because she’s done a better job of grasping [the technical aspect] than Jessica has.” Ohanaja has been the better conference performer than Wilson during her LSU career. She won the 100-meter hurdles at the SEC Outdoor Championships in 2007 along with back-to-back 60-meter hurdles conference titles. But the two runners have been even at national championship meets. Wilson finished third in the 100-meter hurdles at the 2007 NCAA Outdoor Championships, while Ohanaja was a runner-up in the 60-meter hurdles at the NCAA Indoor Championships the same year. Ohanaja and Wilson finished fifth and sixth, respectively, in the 60-meter hurdles at the 2008 Indoor Championships. Wilson said there is no heated competition between them. “I don’t know if there is [a true rivalry], to tell the truth,” Wilson said. Ohanaja said she and Wilson are always trying to help each other. “We coach one another if a coach is not watching,” Ohanaja said. “We watch each other and tell one another what the problem is, like if I’m not going over the hurdle right or if our foot is not landing right,” Ohanaja said. Ohanaja said she has no idea what will happen during the rest of the outdoor season. “I don’t want to say anything ahead of time,” Ohanaja said. “Anything could happen.”
—-Contact Robert Stewart at [email protected]