LSU hurdler Alia Armstrong made history on Saturday at the Randal Tyson Track Center as she became the third–fastest hurdler in NCAA history with a time of 7.86 in the 60-meter hurdles to win the event as the Tigers closed out competition at the 2-day Razorback Invitational. Armstrong won her previous two events to start the 2022 season in the 60-meter hurdles and even cracked eight seconds in her last race, a 7.96-second win at the Red Raider Open last weekend.
She advanced to the finals after winning her preliminary heat in a smooth qualifying time of 7.99 seconds. Running out of lane four, Armstrong was flawless over the five hurdles on her way to clocking a career-best time of 7.86 seconds. An elated reaction burst out of Armstrong once she saw the finalized time of 7.86 on the scoreboard. That matched LSU’s school record that Tonea Marshall set back in 2020 and it moved her up into a three-way tie with Marshall and Grace Stark of Florida for the third-fastest time ever run in NCAA history. It’s also tied for the NCAA lead this year and set a Razorback Invitational meet record.
John Meyer and Apalos Edwards notched podium finishes in their respective events. Meyer tossed a season best of 63’ 6.75” (19.37 meters) to finish second in the men’s shot put. In his LSU debut, Edwards took third with a triple jump of 51’ 5.50” (15.68 meters).
The LSU distance crew accomplished five additional personal bests on the day as all three women in the mile – Alicia Stamey (4:49.02), Addison Stevenson (4:50.36), Sara Funderburk (4:53.55) – ran the best races of their life in the event. On the men’s side, Jackson Martingayle (8:26.35) and Will Dart (8:30.90) collected personal bests in the 3,000-meter run.
The Tigers had three finalists in the 60-meter dash. Kenroy Higgins II placed fourth with a time of 6.69, and Dorian Camel took fifth at 6.73, which equaled his personal best. Tionna Beard-Brown placed sixth in the women’s final of the 60 meters with a time of 7.38.
The women’s 4x400 meter relay of Garriel White, Amber Anning, Michaela Rose, and Favour Ofili closed out the meet with a season best of 3:34.40 to rank No. 7 in the NCAA.
Davis Bove cracked the four-minute barrier in the mile for the third time in his career on Saturday with a run of 3:57.88 to place third in the event. He covered the final 400 meters of the race with a split of 57.85 to dip below four minutes. His other two sub-four-minute performances came a year ago including his school record of 3:57.49 that he clocked in Nashville, Tennessee.
Michaela Rose and Katy-Ann McDonald ran to fourth and fifth place finishes in the 800-meter run. Rose ran the 10th fastest time in LSU history in her debut in the event for LSU with a readout of 2:04.80, and McDonald followed closely with a time of 2:05.27.
In the 400-meter dash, Amber Anning was LSU’s top woman finisher with a fifth place time of 52.78, and Ashton Hicks ran his first open 400 meters in the Purple & Gold with a time of 46.75 to place fourth.
On Friday, Abigail O’Donoghue and Favour Ofili won events titles in the high jump and 200-meter dash. Abigail O’Donoghue’s win was her first of the 2022 season, and it came alongside a season best. O’Donoghue cleared heights of 5’ 8.75” (1.75 meters), 5’ 10.75” (1.80 meters), 6’ (1.83 meters), and 6’ 1.25” (1.86 meters) without missing on her way to victory. The clearance of 6’ 1.25” ranks as the second–best in the NCAA this season. O’Donoghue tried to clear what would have been a personal best and LSU school record of 6’ 2.75” (1.90 meters) but ended the event after one miss at the height.
Nyagoa Bayak leapt to a season’s best of 6’ (1.83 meters) to place second in the women’s high jump with the eighth best clearance in the NCAA this season, and Morgan Smalls notched a mark of 5’ 10.75” (1.80 meters) to place fourth. Smalls’ clearance of 5’ 10.75” enters her name into the LSU record book at the No. 9 spot alongside Hareldau Argyle. O’Donoghue (No. 1/6’ 2.25”) and Bayak (No. 6/6’ 0.50”) also are in the LSU top 10 from previous performances.
In the 200 meters, Ofili was the top finisher in a field of 49 runners. Ofili circled the 200-meter track once in a time of 22.80 seconds to win her heat and the event in what ended up being the third–fastest time of the year this season in the NCAA. Out of the 49, Ofili was the only runner to crack 23 seconds. Alia Armstrong (23.76) and Leah Phillips (23.99) both registered personal bests in the 200-meter event to finish 12th and 17th, respectively. Symone Mason placed 16th with a time of 23.90.
Serena Bolden earned a podium finish in the women’s long jump with the best jump of her indoor career. She leapt to a mark of 19’ 10.25” (6.05 meters) on her sixth and final jump of the event to move up into third place. In the men’s long jump, Ji’eem Bullock took eighth place with a mark of 25’ 5.75” (7.46 meters).
Freshman Dyllon Nimmers ran a career-best time of 1:20.98 in the 600-meter run to place eighth in his event, and throwers Jon Nerdal and Jake Norris finished seventh and eighth with tosses of 65’ 7.50” (20.00 meters) and 65’ 7” (19.99 meters).
LSU will split into two meets next week. LSU’s sprinters and hurdlers will head to Albuquerque for the New Mexico Collegiate Classic on February 4-5, and the rest of the team will compete in Baton Rouge as LSU hosts the Bayou Bengal on February 4 at Carl Maddox Field House.
