The track team is wasting no time this season reaching its goals.
This weekend the Tigers and Lady Tigers traveled to Fayetteville, Ark., for the Razorback Invitational where they had teammates break school records and several others rank high in the record books.
“Coming into this meet we trained really hard for three weeks,” said LSU coach Dennis Shaver. “Because of that we knew we would be a little bit tired, but I think this weekend we performed very well, and even showed some signs of greatness, but those were probably even tempered a little bit by the fatigue factor.”
In only the second meet of the season, senior Hazelann Regis competed in her first 400-meter race of the year and earned an automatic bid to the indoor national meet. Regis won the event — which included Olympic gold medalist Veronica Campbell — with a time of 52.02 seconds.
Ashley Owens added another win to the Tigers’ successful weekend when she continued her undefeated season in the 60-meter dash — turning in the sixth-best time in school history. In the men’s 60-meter dash freshman Xavier Carter already is making his way into school history ranking as the fourth fastest time in the event.
On the men’s side, Peter Coley sealed the first place finish winning the 400 meters with a time of 47.11.
Although sophomore Tanya Osbourne and senior Ruth Nanyinza finished in the runner-up positions in middle distances, each added its name to the record book posting ranks of ninth and tenth all-time in Lady Tiger history.
Sophomore Alleyne Lett also finished second competing in the heptathalon, and his 5,033 points set a new school record.
“Overall, I feel this was a great competition,” Shaver said. “Now we are looking forward to coming back home and getting some things done there.”
The Tigers and Lady Tigers return to action at home next weekend when the team hosts the Bayou Bengal Invitational at the Carl Maddox Fieldhouse on Friday.