The LSU men’s track and field team picked up 10 more qualifiers for nationals Friday when the Tigers wrapped up the NCAA East preliminary rounds in Jacksonville, Florida.
Coach Dennis Shaver’s team added eight individuals and two relays Friday, capping two solid days that set them up for the NCAA semifinals and finals that will be held June 7-10 in Austin, Texas.
On an extremely windy Friday evening, LSU got eight entrants through the quarterfinals on the track and earned two more spots in field events. Individuals and relay teams had to finish in the top 12 to advance.
With Friday’s haul, the Tigers, who had three field event athletes advance Wednesday, will have a total of 13 scoring opportunities at the NCAA championships after qualifying 11 individuals and two relays in the East prelims.
LSU’s women’s team will get its shot Saturday when the four-day meet comes to a close.
The Tigers advanced one athlete in the field and 10 athletes on the track in the field round Wednesday. They’ll also have two relays and one athlete in the field Saturday.
The highlight of the day for the men’s team came in the 100 meters, where LSU had three athletes punch their tickets for Austin.
Da’Marcus Fleming produced the fastest time of the quarterfinals with a wind-aided 9.85.
The tailwind of 5.5 meters per second was well over the allowable 2.0 mps, making it ineligible for record-keeping purposes. But the goal was to simply advance.
Godson Oghenebrume also won his heat in 9.94 seconds, the fifth-fastest of the quarters, but he was also aided by a 2.7 mps tailwind.
Brandon Hicklin, who earned a spot in the NCAA championships in the long jump Wednesday, got in as well. He automatically qualified in placing second in his heat with a wind-aided 9.96.
Hicklin, Dorian Camel, Fleming and Oghenebrume started the afternoon with a win in their heat of the 4×100-meter relay. Their time of 38.82 seconds was the second-fastest of the quarters behind Florida’s 38.82.
Minutes later, freshman Matthew Sophia joined them when he advanced with a heavily wind-aided time of 13.69 seconds.
Sean Burrell produced the fourth-fastest time in his 400-meter hurdles quarterfinals heat with a 50.29 and Camel made it through in the 200 as a timed qualifier with a wind-aided 20.23.
Fleming would have made it in the 200 as well with a time of 20.30 seconds, but he was disqualified for taking two-plus steps over the lane line.
The Tigers’ 4×400 relay team ran second in its heat and automatically qualified. The team of Camel, Ashton Hicks, Shakeem McKay and Burrell clocked a 3:06.23, which was the fourth-fastest time of the quarters.
In the field, Claudio Romero finished second overall with a throw of 196 feet, 10 inches on his first attempt and Apalos Edwards placed ninth in the triple jump with a best of 51-11¼.
Southeastern high jumper Slavko Stevic earned a berth for the championships when he tied for third with a clearance of 7- ¼. He was one of nine jumpers to clear that mark.
Also, UL’s 4×100 relay team turned in an auto qualifier in taking third in its heat with a time of 39.92 seconds. That was the 11th-fastest of the quarterfinal round.
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