The LSU track and field teams earned five NCAA automatic qualifying marks on Sunday at the Gator Invitational in Gainesville, Fla.
“Anytime you can have five automatic marks and another 10 or so provisional times you have to be happy with the day’s performance,” said LSU head coach Pat Henry.
Before the meet, Henry said he wanted the Tigers to qualify for the national championship meet in races longer than 400 meters because the track at Florida is the best in the nation for those events.
LSU senior Marian Burnett posted a time of 2:04.97 in the 800-meter run, which earns an automatic berth to nationals in the event as well as the best time in the nation this season.
Muna Lee also earned an automatic trip to the national meet with a time of 6.73 seconds in the 55-meter dash for the Lady Tigers.
Lady Tiger Hazel Ann Regis finished first in the 400-meter dash with an automatic qualifying time of 53.51 seconds. Nadia Davy finished fifth in the event with a provisional qualifying time of 53.99 seconds for LSU.
The Lady Tigers 4×400 relay team finished second missing the qualifying time of 3:37.00 by .13 seconds.
On the men’s side John Moffit automatically qualified for the long jump. His jump of 25-10 3/4 is the best distance in the nation for the event.
The Tigers 4×400 relay team, which automatically qualified earlier in the year, placed second at the meet with a time of 3:09.20. South Carolina’s team edged out the Tigers with a time of 3:09.17.
Lejuan Simon and Traun Smith finished third and fourth in the triple jump with jumps of 52-4 3/4 and 52-2 3/4 respectively for LSU. Ryan Gallup also placed third for the Tigers in the 5000-meter run with a time of 14 minutes, 56.2 seconds.