While some made their debut for the Tigers this season, the LSU men’s and women’s track teams continued to reach personal bests as both teams swept the team titles at the Bayou Bengal Invitational at the Carl Maddox Fieldhouse on Saturday.
On the men’s side, the Tigers took first place with 141 points scored in 15 events, Southeastern Louisiana took second place with 114 points, Northwestern State came in third place with 106 points and Southern came in fourth place with 78 points scored during the meet.
The Lady Tigers grabbed first place with 172.5 points, Northwestern State finished in second with 108.5 points, Southeastern Louisiana took third place with 93 points followed by Southern in fourth place with 74 points.
The teams combined for 16 event wins and 25 indoor personal bests on their way to gaining team titles in the competition.
LSU coach Dennis Shaver said that he was excited to see the newcomers do so well and prove that their hard work had payed off.
“We ran a lot more people at this meet than what we did at the initial meet,” Shaver said. “I know none of the short sprinters ran in the initial meet because of how we were training and we wanted to hold them out last week. All of them had an opportunity to get on the track and many of them ran some personal bests today in their first meet out on the season.”
Freshman sprinter Kortnei Johnson took home a personal-best in her debut in the 60-meter dash, running a time of 7.37 seconds to qualify for the final round. Despite competing against against seven of her teammates in the final round, Johnson earned the women’s 60-meter title with a time of 7.40 seconds.
Freshman sprinter Rachel Misher also set a personal-best in her debut with a time of 7.43 seconds in the qualifying round of the 60-meter dash. Misher came in second place, behind Johnson, with a time of 7.46.
“I was excited because this is something I’ve been praying for and something I’ve been hoping for to come here and do what I just did,” Johnson said. “Sometimes it makes me emotional because I came from a school with no track, just grass, and coming here on a track and having the training that I get, sometimes I get a little worked up and get a little teary-eyed because it’s amazing what God has done for me.”
Junior Jordan Moore and sophomore Mikiah Brisco earned titles in their first finals of 2016 in the 60-meter hurdles while junior Travia Jones added a 200-meter title with a personal-best performance.
Freshman Hollie Parker and junior Morgan Schuetz made LSU’s Top 10 performance list with their times during the mile and 3,000 meter run.
Junior Blair Henderson was joined the list of Tigers and Lady Tigers who won event titles during the meet with a personal-best time of 4:13.35 in the men’s mile run. Junior Travia Jones lined the list with a run of 24.85 in the women’s 200 meter run and sophomore Da’Quan Bellard lined it with a jump of 23-8 ¾ in the men’s long jump.
“Well it’s [personal-bests] something we don’t take for granted,” Shaver said. “It’s not something that’s normal this early in the season to have people doing that but those people that are turning in those personal-bests, I think that we’re not totally surprised because they worked hard even during the summer to get prepared for fall training to get prepared for this season. I’m really happy that they’re rewarded with those kind of performances because having personal-bests this early in the season is a great accomplishment.”
The Tigers and Lady Tigers will compete next weekend at the Birmingham Crossplex in Birmingham, Alabama for two days at the Conference Clash Power Five Invitational on Jan. 22-23.
You can reach Jourdan Riley on Twitter @jourdanr_TDR