Hurdles, sprinting and pole-vaulting were all events that were included in the LSU Twilight meet Friday.
Nathaniel Callaway/ The Lion's Roar
The Lions track & field team walked away Friday night with five wins. The LSU Twilight competition was held at Louisiana State University indoor track on Feb. 17.
One happening of the evening was junior pole-vaulter Devin King breaking a record. King tied his school indoor record with a vault of 17 feet, 11.25 inches. He had reached this height before at the 2016 Southland Conference Championships and is currently the best in the conference and ranks 10th in the nation.
Sophomore thrower Marcell Kecskemety took home the first win for the Lions with a shot put throw of 53-11.75. However even with the wins from the day, assistant track and field Coach Rocky Capello was pleased with his runners, and mentioned freshman Grant O’Callaghan and his performance.
“I think it’s going well,” said Capello. “I’ve been mostly paying attention to the distance runners not so much on the sprinters or the field events, and I’m happy with what they’ve been doing. Grant ran a 4:20 and came in second, which is nine seconds faster than he ran last meet. He knocked about two seconds off his PR, and indoor is usually a few seconds than outdoor, so I think he’s got the shot to go 4:08 in the mile if he keeps training.”
O’Callaghan also felt pleased with his run and shared some of his hopes for the season.
“I think I was doing really well,” said O’Callaghan. “I can feel my workout really coming along as the seasons gone on, so I’m proud of my PR. I’ve never really done indoor before. So, I’m pleased with how it came out. Hopefully I get to run in conference. I’m definitely feeling pretty good and I’m feeling pretty good about this season.”
Overall, Capello is excited and looks forward to the upcoming meets.
“Our cross country season was great,” said Capello. “Our average time was about a minute and five seconds faster than the average for the 8k last year, so we’re definitely going in the right direction. I’m pretty excited. We’re trying to build a really strong program. We’ve got some really great recruits coming in so we’re going in the right direction.”
Head Coach track & field Sean Brady shared some of his thoughts on the meet and how he felt the team was doing so far and what he expected.
“So far, I think it’s going great,” said Brady. “This meet was kind of a last minute entry ,so we had a short time to prepare for it, but you know every time you put on the uniform it’s a competition, and I really wanted my kids to feel that way getting ready for today. We have trained all this week, we expect to be good but not great today, and we expect to be great next week. I have really high hopes for this season because if we don’t have high hopes it bleeds over into the performance.”
Senior Andre Colebrook won his 400-meter run in 47.81 seconds. That time is the fastest in the Southland Conference currently in the season.
“This was actually my first indoor 400 in college, and I’m a senior in grad school,” said Colebrook. “I think this went pretty good. I gave it my all, but at some points I think I should have made a move instead of staying behind, but this was my first 400, so I’m pretty proud. Usually I run an 800 and I’m running that in conference next week and try to represent my school it’ll be my last one so hopefully I go out with a bang.”
The Lions took home a total of five wins from the evening and other placements from throughout the competition, including shot put, distance running and high jump. The athletes prepared rigorously for the meet, and the coaches and competitors alike were pleased with the results.
Nathaniel Callaway/ The Lion's Roar