Track & Field: Ragin’ Cajuns Finish Third At SBC Men’s Indoor; Carter Sets School-Record

Beyer, Sinclair finish 1-2 in heptathlon

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Hanoj Carter recorded a school-record in the men’s 200-meter dash while Franz Beyer and Angus Sinclair finished 1-2 in the men’s heptathlon to lead the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns indoor track and field team to a third-place finish in men’s competition at the 2017 Sun Belt Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships on Tuesday at the Birmingham CrossPlex.
 
Matt Rice and Ricky Theyard each posted second-place finishes in their respective events as Louisiana equaled its best finish since 2010. The Ragin’ Cajuns finished with 103.5 points, finishing behind champion UT Arlington (133.5) and Texas State (119).
 
On the women’s side, Meredith Driskell recorded a fourth-place finish in the pole vault while Lindsay LaGarde posted a pair of top-eight finishes as Louisiana finished 11th overall in the meet with 14 points.
 
"I’m really proud of the men’s team," head coach Lon Badeaux said. "We had one bad mishap on day one where another runner tripped up Matt Rice, and it turned the tide of the meet. But the men never gave up and really excelled. We were in the team race right to the very end.
 
"I’m also proud of the girl’s effort with the adversity they have gone through. We knew replacing six school-record holders from last year would be tough, but we never expected losing a couple of our big scores to season-ending injuries. There will be many good days ahead for them with a bit of patience."
 
Carter, who previously set the school-record (21.20) at last year’s SBC Indoor Championships, recorded a time of 21.00 to claim the 200-meter title for the second consecutive year. Carter added a fifth-place showing for Louisiana in the 60-meter dash, crossing the finish line in 6.85 seconds.
 
Beyer and Sinclair, who finished 1-2 at the 2016 SBC Outdoor Championships, claimed the top two spots for the second time as Beyer scored 5,269 points to overtake first-day leader Sinclair (5,209).
 
Rice earned all-conference honors for the Ragin’ Cajuns, finishing second overall in the 1-mile run (4:13.02) with teammate Stanley Limoh finishing fourth (4:13.14). Limoh added a fourth-place finish in the 5,000-meters (14:55.68) for Louisiana with the men’s 4×400-meter relay team finishing eighth (3:26.80).
 
Theyard finished second overall in the men’s triple jump for Louisiana, recording a mark of 50 feet 7 ¼ inches. Tristan Whitehall earned a sixth-place finish in the shot put for Louisiana (54-6) with Dionte Heath finishing third in the high jump (6-9 ¾) and leading a group of four Ragin’ Cajuns in the top-eight.
 
Freshman Damon Guidry finished fourth in the high jump (6-8) for Louisiana with Beyer finishing seventh (6-6) and Sinclair eighth (6-6).
 
Driskell cleared the bar in the women’s pole vault at 12-0 ½ to finish fourth overall with Taylor Walker earning an eighth-place finish in the triple jump (39-7).
 
LaGarde posted a seventh-place performance in the 5,000-meters (17:55.22) for Louisiana and was eighth overall in the mile run (5:06.47). The women’s 4×400-meter relay team finished eighth overall, posting a time of 3:55.10.