LSU’s track and field teams topped the NCAA leaderboard this weekend when they traveled to New York’s Armory Track and Field Center for the New Balance Collegiate Invitational.The Tigers posted more season bests in individual categories en route to finishing second in the Invitational.They racked up 60 points finishing second to Baylor (65), while the Lady Tigers finished sixth in the women’s standings with 43 points.LSU junior LaTavia Thomas set an NCAA-leading time (2 minutes, 4.54 seconds) in her first 800-meter race of the season, breaking her own previous meet record set at last year’s New Balance Collegiate Invitational.Thomas won the Most Outstanding Female Performer of the meet after also anchoring the winning 4×400-meter relay team, which set its first NCAA provisional qualifying time of the year at 3 minutes, 38.84 seconds.She became the first Lady Tiger to set an automatic qualifying time for the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships.LSU junior Samantha Henry, who teamed with Thomas in the 4×400, set an NCAA provisional qualifying time in the 200 meters (23.61 seconds) Saturday after setting an NCAA provisional qualifying time in the 60 meters Friday (7.33 seconds).LSU sophomore and Kings Park, N.Y., native Walter Henning won the weight throw with a meet record of 72 feet, 8 1/2 inches, becoming the first LSU athlete to win the event at the New Balance Collegiate Invitational.”It was really nice to come back to the same circle where I threw for so many years in high school and set a meet record,” Henning said in a news release. “I really wanted to compete more than anything, and I think I did that.”The LSU men’s long jumpers swept the top two spots Friday. No two athletes from the same school had ever swept the long jump at the meet before.LSU junior Will Coppage won the event with an NCAA-leading mark and new personal best jump of 25 feet, 7 1/4 inches.Coppage went into the meet without a 2009 NCAA qualifying mark, and left with a mark one inch farther than his previous best set at the 2007 Indoor Championships.”We just had a great week of practice as a group, and I knew I could put it all together,” Coppage said in a news release. “When I hit that big jump, I felt really good going off the board, and my landing was much better. I knew it was a big one,”LSU senior Jeremy Hicks finished second and set an NCAA provisional qualifying mark at 25 feet, 3 1/2 inches after fouling on his first two attempts.LSU junior Trindon Holliday continued his winning ways in the 60-meter dash with a time of 6.56 seconds, matching his own 2009 NCAA-leading time.”Trindon continues to look great running the 60 meters,” said LSU track and field coach Dennis Shaver in a news release. “He’s just a very confident runner right now.”LSU junior Josh Dominguez set the first provisional mark of his career with an NCAA provisional clearance of 17 feet, 3/4 inches in the pole vault.”This is another step in the right direction for both our teams,” Shaver said.Contact Rowan Kavner [email protected]