Track & Field: Cajuns Claim Cowboy Relays In 2015 Outdoor Debut

Ragin’ Cajuns rack up seven first-place finishes in 12-team meet

• Final Results (PDF)

LAKE CHARLES – Justin Victor earned a pair of first-place finishes, including a meet and facility record in the men’s hammer throw, and the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns track and field team made its 2015 outdoor debut as it claimed the Cowboy Relays "Bob Hayes Louisiana Challenge" on Saturday at the Cameron Communications Track Complex.
Louisiana scored a combined 215 points and claimed 12-team meet for the second consecutive year, edging host McNeese State (209) with ULM (166), Southeastern Louisiana (148) and Northwestern State (146) rounding out the top five.
 
"We had a pretty good meet today," head coach Lon Badeaux said. "We did some outstanding things in some respects and in other areas, it looked like our first outdoor meet. Overall, I was satisfied. Justin Victor and Stacy Imagbe both opened up with outstanding performances with results that should easily get them into the (NCAA East) preliminary meet in late May."
 
Victor, a 2014 indoor All-American, claimed first-place honors in both the hammer throw and shot put in his first outdoor meet in two years.
 
The DeRidder, La., native set a meet and facility record in the hammer throw after recording a toss of 219 feet, 8 inches – the first throw of over 200 feet at the facility and breaking the previous record (196-11) set by Southeastern Louisiana’s Adonson Shallow. Victor added a second individual title on the day after his throw of 53-3 ¾ in the shot put was more than three feet farther than second-place finisher Kyle Weiss of ULM (50-2 ¾).

Matt Rice, competing in the men’s 1,500-meters, claimed first-place honors after crossing the finish line in 3:56.01 with teammate Christian Bergeron finishing fourth (4:01.34).

 

 
Morgan Cormer added a first-place finish for the Ragin’ Cajuns after claiming the men’s 110-meter hurdles (14.52 seconds) with Arthur Price (14.80) finishing third and Tyler Hughes (14.89) fifth. Cormier added a second-place finish in the 400-meter hurdles (53.32) for Louisiana, with newcomer Jeryl Brazil finishing as the top Division I athlete in the men’s 100-meter dash (10.60), and William LeBlanc finishing second in the high jump (6-6 ¾).
 
Imagbe recorded one of four first-place finishes in the women’s competition after claiming the long jump title with a mark of 20-6 ½. Newcomer Taylor Walker claimed the triple jump for Louisiana with a distance of 40-3 ¼ with Claire Hodges claiming the 1,500-meter run (4:46.25) and Courtney Musgrove the 3,000-meters (10:49.12).
 
Tia Mitchell finished third overall for the Ragin’ Cajuns in the long jump (19-3 ¼) with Jana Jones (46-11 ¾) and Tamela Young (46-5 ½) finishing third and fourth, respectively, in the shot put. Newcomer Alena Hrusoci placed third overall in the 400-meter hurdles (1:04.15) with 2014 Sun Belt champion Joya Tardieff finishing fourth (1:04.74).
 
Louisiana will return to action on Friday when it hosts the Louisiana Classics. The two-day meet will begin on Friday at 3 p.m. with competition in the men’s and women’s javelin before running events begin at 6:30 p.m. The meet will conclude on Saturday with field events beginning at 9 a.m., with running events scheduled for a 2 p.m. start.
 
Admission is $6 for adults and $3 for children aged 12 and under. Current UL students are admitted free with a valid University I.D.