State Track & Field Squads Travel West To Louisiana For LSU Alumni Gold
STARKVILLE, Miss. ?€“ The Mississippi State track and field squads travel west toBaton Rouge, La. Saturday for the LSU Alumni Gold meet. Field events arescheduled to begin at 10 a.m. with running events starting at 1:30 p.m. CT atthe Bernie Moore Track Stadium on the LSU campus.
"LSU is a good team," said MSU head coach Al Schmidt. "Having them run in thismeet gives us a chance to run fast. They're a quality team. Since it's not ateam scoring event, we're going to focus on improving individual times andgetting some regional marks."
Other teams scheduled to compete include host LSU, Alabama, Houston, LouisianaTech, McNeese State, Nicholls State, Rice, South Alabama, SE Louisiana,Southern Miss, Texas A&M, Troy, Tulane and UL-Lafayette.
Last weekend at the MSU-hosted Jace Lacoste Invitational, Jamel Ashley, a seniorall-American, won the 400-meter dash in 45.69. The regional qualifying mark isa Jace Lacoste Invitational record.
Sophomore all-American Arthur Davis finished third in the event in 46.17, aregional qualifying mark and personal best. LaChristopher Lewis, also a seniorall-American, finished fourth in a regional-qualifying 46.40.
Senior high jumper Matt Denton cleared 7-0 1/2 en route to taking top honors inthe event. The leap is a regional-qualifying time and personal best for theHurley, Miss.-native. Freshman Tim Williams finished second with a mark of 6-63/4.
Lewis won the 200-meter dash title in 21.06, a regional qualifying mark. He wasfollowed by Davis in 21.23.
The 4x400-meter relay team of freshman Adian Sanderson, freshman Chris Woods,freshman Elzie Coleman and junior Kendall Pyant II won in with a 3:09.44regional time.
The Bulldogs swept the top four spots in the 1500-meter run with Travis McKay(1st, 3:54.41), Brandon Smith (2nd, 3:59.60) and John Brigham (3rd, 3:59.74)all setting personal best marks. Sophomore Phillip Moore finished fourth.
On the women's side, junior Meggan Hodge captured the 3000-meter steeplechasetitle with a Jace Lacoste Invitational record-time of 11:03.78.
Senior Crystal Averitt was a double winner at the meet, taking top billing inthe discus and hammer. Averitt's mark of 156-11 in the discus qualifies her fornext month's Mideast Regional in Bloomington, Ind. She won the hammer with athrow of 173-10.
Sophomore Nicola Wilson set a personal best with her winning 46-06 3/4 throw inthe shot put. Sophomore Christina Hernandez finished fourth in the event.
Junior Zita Magloire set a personal best in her second-place 4:37.45 showing inthe 1500-meter run. Junior Jasmine Walls cleared 5-07 in the high jump, apersonal best.