Track & Field: School Records Fall For Louisiana at Jaguar Invitational
Leleux, Foster set indoor records; Ware establishes meet record in claiming long jump
Matt Sullivan | Associate Director of Athletics Communications
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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Reagann Leleux and Kiana Foster each established new school records in their respective events while Obdarius Ware set a meet record in the men’s long jump as the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns Track and Field team wrapped up competition at the Jaguar Invitational on Sunday at the Birmingham Crossplex.
The meet, the final tuneup for Louisiana before the Sun Belt Conference Indoor Championships scheduled for Feb. 22-23, was the first of two straight meets for the Ragin’ Cajuns at the Birmingham Crossplex.
Louisiana claimed four first-place finishes in the 16-team meet hosted by South Alabama and included Sun Belt Conference schools Arkansas State, Georgia State, Little Rock, ULM and UT Arlington. Leleux (women’s pole vault) and Ware (men’s long jump) were joined by Ragin’ Cajuns first-place finishers Serenity Rogers (women’s 60-meter hurdles) and John Joseph (men’s triple jump).
Leleux, who set the school record (12-8 ¼) as a freshman in 2019 before clearing 12-11 ½ last week at the Louisiana Invitational, crossed the bar at 13-3 ½ to post the top mark in the Sun Belt Conference with freshman Jordan Brown finishing sixth overall at 11-11 ¾.
Foster broke the school-record in the women’s 60-meter dash after her first-place time in the preliminaries (7.51) broke the previous record of 7.55 seconds set by Morgan Breaux in 2014. Foster earned a second-place finish in the finals with a time of 7.52 before posting a second-place finish in the 200-meters, tying her personal-best (24.71) set last week at the Scarlet and Black Invitational.
Ware led three Louisiana athletes to a top-5 finish in the men’s long jump after he posted a mark of 24-7 ¼ to break the previous record (24-2 ½) set by Louisiana Tech’s Tamario Lattin in 2017. Louisiana’s Golden Eke posted a second-place mark of 23-8 on his final attempt with Joseph finishing fifth overall at 22-10 ½.
Joseph, the No. 1-ranked SBC athlete in the men’s triple jump entering the meet, easily surpassed his season-best of 49-0 ¾ with a personal-best mark of 49-10 ½ for the Ragin’ Cajuns and eclipsing his previous PR (49-8 ¼) set at the 2020 SBC Indoor Championships. Teammate Rylan Theyard finished third in the event for Louisiana after posting a mark of 48-5 ½.
Rogers, who qualified for the finals of the women’s 60-meter hurdles crown after posting the third-best time (8.80) in the preliminaries, came back stronger in the final as her time of 8.55 seconds was .01 second off her personal-best and .11 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Rainee Bowers of Arkansas State.
Ta’La Spates (57.19) and India Brown (57.52) each claimed their respective heats in the women’s 400-meters for Louisiana with Spates finishing second overall and Brown sixth. Spates added a seventh-place finish for the Ragin’ Cajuns in the 200 meters (25.08) with Emoni Coleman finishing fifth overall in the women’s 800-meters (2:16.00).
Taylor Davis tied her personal-best in the women’s high jump for Louisiana with a third-place mark of 5-6 ½. Frankie Griffin finished sixth for the Ragin’ Cajuns in the high jump (5-4 ½) while Ariel Young was fifth in the triple jump (38-2 ¾) and Brooklynne Wilson set a personal-best (47-2 ½) in the women’s weight throw.
Nathan Fergusson (48.63) and Tyrell Hargrove (49.39) each posted top-5 finishes in the men’s 400-meters for Louisiana with Fergusson finishing second and Hargrove fifth. Freshman Caedmon Kyles (4:27.15) and Rashid Reese (4:30.67) each set personal-bests in the mile run for the Ragin’ Cajuns while Yves Cherubin finished third overall in the men’s 60-meter hurdles (8.11).
Louisiana placed four sprinters in the top-8 in the men’s 60-meter dash with Trejun Jones (6.85) finishing third, Jamhad Booth fifth (6.87), Brock Appiah sixth (6.90) and Terroll Jolla eighth (6.93). Fergusson paced fifth athletes to top-15 finishes in the men’s 200-meters after his personal-best time of 21.78 earned him a sixth-place finish. Appiah (21.81) finished seventh for the Ragin’ Cajuns with Booth (22.07) finishing 10th, Jolla (22.13) 12th and freshman Warrick Baker (22.20) 15th.
Cole Courtois produced a season-best mark of 16-7 ½ in the men’s pole vault to finish second overall for Louisiana. Freshman Tyren Hannah finished fourth overall for the Ragin’ Cajuns in the shot put (51-10 ½) while Theyard placed fifth in the high jump (6-9) and freshman Gabriel Vicknair set a personal-best (47-1 ½) in the men’s weight throw.
