For the second day in a row, the LSU track and field team set the table well in qualifying Thursday at the NCAA East preliminary rounds in Jacksonville, Florida.
This time, it was the women’s team that did the damage for coach Dennis Shaver’s team at the University of North Florida track and field complex.
Long jumper Morgan Smalls became the first LSU woman to qualify for the NCAA semifinals and finals that are set for June 7-10 in Austin, Texas, and 12 of her teammates made it through the first round on the track.
They advanced to the quarterfinals to be held Saturday with berths in the NCAA championships on the line.
The men’s team had three field event athletes punch their tickets Wednesday and 10 others advanced to the quarterfinals that will be contested Friday.
The top 12 finishers in each individual event as well as the relays in this meet earn the right to meet the 12 athletes and relays that survive the NCAA West preliminaries.
Smalls, who is also in the high jump Saturday, finished seventh in the long jump with a best of 20 feet, 7 inches, giving Shaver’s program four spots at nationals with more to come Friday and Saturday.
LSU loaded up in the first running event of the day — taking three of the 24 spots for the quarterfinals before closing the night with three more qualifiers in the 200.
In between, the Tigers gained two qualifiers each in the 800 meters and 400-meter hurdles and one each in the 100 and 1,500.
In the 100 hurdles, Alia Amstrong won her heat with the second-fastest time of the first round with a wind-aided time of 12.62 seconds.
Shani’a Bellamy also automatically qualified in taking third in her section with a personal-record time of 12.98 seconds as the heat was run with a tailwind under the allowable 2.0 meters per second.
Leah Phillips joined them after clocking a 13.07, earning her spot in the quarterfinals as one of six qualifiers who advanced on time.
Favour Ofili was LSU’s top qualifier in the 200 when she took second in her heat with a time of 22.69 seconds.
Brianna Lyston (22.75) and Davies (22.99) also made it through with Davies making it a double when she won her heat of the 100 in 11.21 seconds.
LSU had a strong night in the 800 as Cindy Bourdier and Michael Rose easily advanced.
Bourdier clocked the third-fastest time of the round with a PR of 2 minutes, 03.09 seconds, taking nearly a second off her old best of 2:04.01, and Rose won her heat in 2:04.69 to automatically move on.
Like Davies, Bellamy was a double qualifier in taking second in her 400 hurdles heat in 57.81 and Garriel White joined her after placing second in her heat at 57.98.
Lorena Rangel Batres got through in the 1,500 when she posted a time of 4:22.22.
Like Smalls, UL’s Maria Bienvenu also earned a spot at nationals when she placed fifth in the javelin with a best of 169-11.
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