2022 LSU Gumbo - Book - Page 62
LSU hurdler Alia Armstrong made history on Saturday
at the Randal Tyson Track Center as she became the
third-fastest hurdler in NCAA history with a time of 7.86
in the 60-meter hurdles to win the event as the Tigers
closed out competition at the 2-day Razorback Invitational.
Armstrong won her previous two events to start the 2022
season in the 60-meter hurdles and even cracked eight
seconds in her last race, a 7.96-second win at the Red Raider
Open last weekend.
She advanced to the finals after winning her preliminary
heat in a smooth qualifying time of 7.99 seconds. Running
out of lane four, Armstrong was flawless over the five
hurdles on her way to clocking a career-best time of 7.86
seconds. An elated reaction burst out of Armstrong once
she saw the finalized time of 7.86 on the scoreboard. That
matched LSU’s school record that Tonea Marshall set
back in 2020 and it moved her up into a three-way tie with
Marshall and Grace Stark of Florida for the third-fastest
time ever run in NCAA history. It’s also tied for the NCAA
lead this year and set a Razorback Invitational meet record.
John Meyer and Apalos Edwards notched podium
finishes in their respective events. Meyer tossed a season
best of 63’ 6.75” (19.37 meters) to finish second in the
men’s shot put. In his LSU debut, Edwards took third with
a triple jump of 51’ 5.50” (15.68 meters).
The LSU distance crew accomplished five additional
personal bests on the day as all three women in the mile –
Alicia Stamey (4:49.02), Addison Stevenson (4:50.36), Sara
Funderburk (4:53.55) – ran the best races of their life in
the event. On the men’s side, Jackson Martingayle (8:26.35)
and Will Dart (8:30.90) collected personal bests in the
3,000-meter run.
The Tigers had three finalists in the 60-meter dash.
Kenroy Higgins II placed fourth with a time of 6.69,
and Dorian Camel took fifth at 6.73, which equaled his
personal best. Tionna Beard-Brown placed sixth in the
women’s final of the 60 meters with a time of 7.38.
The women’s 4x400 meter relay of Garriel White,
Amber Anning, Michaela Rose, and Favour Ofili closed
out the meet with a season best of 3:34.40 to rank No. 7 in
the NCAA.
Davis Bove cracked the four-minute barrier in the mile
for the third time in his career on Saturday with a run of
3:57.88 to place third in the event. He covered the final 400
meters of the race with a split of 57.85 to dip below four
minutes. His other two sub-four-minute performances
came a year ago including his school record of 3:57.49 that
he clocked in Nashville, Tennessee.
Michaela Rose and Katy-Ann McDonald ran to fourth
62
and fifth place finishes in the 800-meter run. Rose ran the
10th fastest time in LSU history in her debut in the event
for LSU with a readout of 2:04.80, and McDonald followed
closely with a time of 2:05.27.
In the 400-meter dash, Amber Anning was LSU’s
top woman finisher with a fifth place time of 52.78, and
Ashton Hicks ran his first open 400 meters in the Purple &
Gold with a time of 46.75 to place fourth.
On Friday, Abigail O’Donoghue and Favour Ofili won
events titles in the high jump and 200-meter dash. Abigail
O’Donoghue’s win was her first of the 2022 season, and it
came alongside a season best. O’Donoghue cleared heights
of 5’ 8.75” (1.75 meters), 5’ 10.75” (1.80 meters), 6’ (1.83
meters), and 6’ 1.25” (1.86 meters) without missing on
her way to victory. The clearance of 6’ 1.25” ranks as the
second-best in the NCAA this season. O’Donoghue tried
to clear what would have been a personal best and LSU
school record of 6’ 2.75” (1.90 meters) but ended the event
after one miss at the height.
Nyagoa Bayak leapt to a season’s best of 6’ (1.83 meters)
to place second in the women’s high jump with the eighth
best clearance in the NCAA this season, and Morgan
Smalls notched a mark of 5’ 10.75” (1.80 meters) to place
fourth. Smalls’ clearance of 5’ 10.75” enters her name
into the LSU record book at the No. 9 spot alongside
Hareldau Argyle. O’Donoghue (No. 1/6’ 2.25”) and Bayak
(No. 6/6’ 0.50”) also are in the LSU top 10 from previous
performances.
In the 200 meters, Ofili was the top finisher in a field
of 49 runners. Ofili circled the 200-meter track once in
a time of 22.80 seconds to win her heat and the event in
what ended up being the third-fastest time of the year this
season in the NCAA. Out of the 49, Ofili was the only
runner to crack 23 seconds. Alia Armstrong (23.76) and
Leah Phillips (23.99) both registered personal bests in
the 200-meter event to finish 12th and 17th, respectively.
Symone Mason placed 16th with a time of 23.90.
Serena Bolden earned a podium finish in the women’s
long jump with the best jump of her indoor career. She
leapt to a mark of 19’ 10.25” (6.05 meters) on her sixth and
final jump of the event to move up into third place. In the
men’s long jump, Ji’eem Bullock took eighth place with a
mark of 25’ 5.75” (7.46 meters).
Freshman Dyllon Nimmers ran a career-best time of
1:20.98 in the 600-meter run to place eighth in his event,
and throwers Jon Nerdal and Jake Norris finished seventh
and eighth with tosses of 65’ 7.50” (20.00 meters) and 65’
7” (19.99 meters).