Track & Field: Strong Performances Pace Louisiana At LSU Purple Tiger

Relay teams turn in second-place finishes in season-opening meet

Matt Sullivan, Associate Director of Athletics Communications

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BATON ROUGE – Dominique Williams started off the day with a second-place performance in the men’s weight throw and the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns Track and Field team recorded several strong performances in the season-opening LSU Purple Tiger Invitational on Friday at Carl Maddox Fieldhouse.

Rylan Theyard produced a second-place finish in the men’s triple jump while the men’s and women’s 4×400-meter relay teams ended the day with runner-up finishes as Louisiana opened its 2020 indoor season in the 13-team event.

Williams, the defending Sun Belt Conference champion in the men’s weight throw, launched a mark of 64 feet, 5 inches for Louisiana to finish behind LSU’s Jake Norris (70-1 ½) in the event with ULM’s Jakob Fudge (57-0) finishing third.

Williams’ performance was one of four top-five finishes for the Ragin’ Cajuns in field events with Theyard (49-7 ¼) and John Joseph (47-5 ¼) finishing second and third, respectively, with freshman Nick Russell posting a fourth-place finish in the men’s pole vault (15-5). In the men’s long jump, Chandler Mixon got off to a solid start as his mark of 22-8 ½ was sixth overall.

Freshman Trejun Jones (6.85 seconds) and Terroll Jolla (6.88) each qualified for the men’s 60-meter dash with Jolla finishing sixth overall in the finals (6.89). Newcomer Tahj Whitfield set a personal-best in the men’s 60-meter hurdles (8.16) for Louisiana in the preliminaries before finishing fourth overall in the finals (8.17).

Tyrell Hargrove earned a sixth-place finish in the 600-meters (1:23.94) with Rashid Reese earning an eighth-place finish in the 800-meters (2:02.98). Key Alfred clocked a time of 4:34.00 in the mile run to place eighth overall.

The Ragin’ Cajuns wrapped up the meet in the men’s 4×400-meter relay with Nathan Fergusson, Hargrove, Solomon Brent and Jonathan Kimutai posting a time of 3:20.90.

Frankie Griffin and freshman Taylor Davis each turned in top-6 performances in the women’s high jump with Griffin finishing third overall (5-6 ½) and Davis sixth (5-4 ½). Senior Alexis James got the day started on the women’s side as her personal-best mark in the weight throw (52-3 ¾) earned a seventh-place performance.

Louisiana placed second overall in the women’s 4×400-meter relay with the quartet of India Brown, Shonita Brome, Emoni Coleman and Ta’La Spates posting a time of 3:58.22. Coleman added a fifth-place finish in the mile run (5:19.93) for the Ragin’ Cajuns while freshman Kennedy London placed 10^th overall in the 60-meter hurdles (8.90).

Louisiana will return to action on Friday (Jan. 17) when it travels to College Station, Texas to compete at the Ted Nelson Invitational at the Gilliam Indoor Stadium.