LSU’s women and men’s track teams showed up and shined at the LSU Twilight on Friday at the Carl Maddox Fieldhouse.
The Tigers and Lady Tigers had 17 athletes produce personal-bests.
“We feel like our teams are positioned pretty well going to SECs next week,” said LSU coach Dennis Shaver. “We have a number of athletes who are comfortably within the qualifying spots for NCAAs at this time, but still many others right on the bubble who are going to benefit from a highly-competitive meet like we’re going to see next week.”
LSU All-American sophomore sprinter Mikiah Brisco turned in two career-bests in the 60-meter hurdles, one in the preliminary round and the other in the final. Brisco ended the preliminary round with 8.12 seconds and beat that time in the final with 8.06 seconds. She moved up from the No. 14 spot to No. 4 in the NCAA rankings.
Although Brisco entered the meet ranked No. 6 nationally in the women’s 60-meter dash, the Baton Rouge native placed third in the event with a time of 7.25 seconds on Friday.
“I feel confident going into SECs next week and doing both races,” Brisco said. “I feel like I can run a pretty good time in the prelims and then even faster in the finals. I actually like hurdling more than I like running the open 60 or the open 100 because I can focus my attention on each hurdle during the race. When running the open races, sometimes I think too much. With the hurdles there, I have something to focus on and keep me going.”
Lady Tiger sophomore hurdler Daeshon Gordon made top 10 in national women’s 60-meter hurdle standings when she finished after Brisco with a personal-best time of 8.12 seconds, beating her previous time of 8.20 seconds in the event. Gordon’s career-high performance translated into a No. 6 spot in the NCAA rankings.
Both Lady Tigers made LSU’s all-time top 10 performance list for the indoor hurdle event.
LSU junior thrower Johnnie Jackson achieved a career-best of 70 feet, 5 ¾ inches to win the men’s weight throw event, placing him No. 12 nationally. Jackson ranks third on LSU’s all-time indoor performance list in the men’s weight throw event.
“I had a great week of practice this week, and I felt great getting up this morning and then coming here and going through warm ups,” Jackson said. “I didn’t want to throw too much (in warm ups). It’s an issue I’ve kind of had before, getting a lot of throws in before a competition. So, I felt really good going in. I wasn’t as timid as I’ve been in the past.”
Junior sprinter Nathaneel Mitchell-Blake finished in second place with a career-best time of 6.65 seconds in the men’s 60-meter dash, following after a personal-best 6.68 seconds in the preliminary round. LSU freshman sprinter Donte Jackson placed third with a time of 6.66 seconds.