After a full weekend of event wins, personal records and even grabbing world leads in events, LSU Track and Field clearly impressed more than just the casual collegiate sports fan. The USTFCCCA ranked the women’s team first and the men’s team second after the Tigers’ strong showing at the Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, AR. 
Senior Tonea Marshall and freshman Alia Armstrong dominated the women’s 60 meter hurdles with times of 7.89 and 7.95 seconds, respectively. Marshall won gold in the event, and Armstrong was awarded silver for her career best showing. Marshall became the third woman in NCAA history to run the event in sub-7.90 territories three times, per USTFCCCA. 
“We practice hard, and we train hard, so I think we brought that to the meet, and we were able to replicate it.” Armstrong said of their outings. 
Armstrong’s biggest supporter has been her senior teammate, Marshall. Armstrong credits Marshall with empowering her and lifting her to new heights her first season. Marshall shrugs it off; it’s not hard to mentor someone with Armstrong’s flair. 
“I just tell her, ‘You know, you have the talent. Just be confident in yourself,’” Marshall said with a smile. “She can run with me in practice, so why should it be any different in the meet?” 
Sophomore JuVaughn Harrison showed his prowess in sweeping the long jump and high jump events over the weekend. Harrison and Marshall are the only duo from the same program in the country to be on the Bowerman Watchlist. With a long jump of 26’ 7.25” and a high jump of 7’ 5.75”, he tied his personal bests in both events, all while not at 100% health. 
“It was a long, tough weekend,” Harrison said. “I was a bit banged up going into the meet, so I didn’t know how much I was going to be able todo. But with treatment and everything I was able to come out with a pair of PRs.” 
Junior Terrence Laird set the world lead with his time of 20.43 seconds in the 200-meter dash. The junior college transfer is in his first year with LSU, and he says he’s just getting started. 
“I felt like I could execute a lot more,” Laird explained, who said he was dealing with some sickness over the weekend. “I felt like I have a lot more in store.” 
Laird has not been intimidated by the big jump from a junior college program to one of the top programs in the country, but he will admit there’s a big change that’s happened this year. 
“It’s a step up,” Laird acknowleged. “Here, everybody is at the same level, so it’s just mental toughness. You got to come in and be mentally tough. We’re all talented, we all know we can be the best.” 
With SEC and NCAA Indoor Championships quickly approaching, Tonea Marshall summed up the team’s focused mindset the best. 
“We’re going to go into the meet just confident. Only time will tell. We just have to go out there and perform and compete to the best of our abilities on that day. Everybody is going to go through the same thing. Some people are going to have problems, and it’s just how we overcome those things and how we can excel and do better than others.” 
“She couldn’t have said it any better,” Alia Armstrong added on with a laugh.