Joseph, Foster Lead Ragin' Cajuns at Scarlet and Black Invitational

JONESBORO, Ark. – John Joseph and Kiana Foster each posted the top marks in the Sun Belt Conference in their respective events and the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns recorded 16 top-3 finishes after competing at Arkansas State's Scarlet and Black Invitational on Sunday at First National Bank Arena.

Both the men's and women's 4x400-meter relay teams posted second-place finishes as Louisiana concluded its third indoor meet of the 2021 season, competing against a field that included five Sun Belt schools - Arkansas State, Little Rock, South Alabama, Troy and ULM – along with American Athletic Conference member Memphis.

Joseph paced a 1-2-3-4 finish for Louisiana in the men's triple jump after recording a SBC-leading mark of 49-0 ¾ to claim first-place honors. Newcomer Golden Eke produced the second-best mark in the SBC with a mark of 48-10 ¾ with Rylan Theyard finishing third (48-6 ¼) and Josh Mason fourth (44-1 ¼).

Foster led a group of six Ragin' Cajuns runners in the women's 200-meter dash as her converted time of 24.34 seconds was the best among SBC runners. Ta'La Spates finished third overall for Louisiana after posting a converted time of 24.92 with Reina Ryan sixth (25.40), Johneisha George 10^th (25.68), Kennedy Price 12^th (25.89) and Kennedy London 15^th (26.21).

Tyrell Hargrove recorded a personal-best time of 1:55.69 to finish second overall in the men's 800-meter dash for Louisiana with Rashid Reese setting a personal-best time (1:57.70) to finish eighth and freshman Caedmon Kyles 12^th (1:59.58).

Nathan Fergusson added a second-place finish in the men's 400-meters for Louisiana with a time of 49.13 with Chandler Mixon finishing second overall in the 55-meter hurdles (7.59).

Brock Appiah posted a time of 22.01 in the 200-meters to pace four Ragin' Cajuns to top-10 finishes. Terroll Jolla (22.38) finished sixth for Louisiana with freshman Warrick Baker finishing eighth (22.45) and Trejun Jones ninth (22.47).

Louisiana placed three athletes in the top four in the men's long jump with Obdarius Ware finishing second (23-6), Eke third with a personal-best (23-5 ¼) and Joseph fourth (23-4 ¾).

Frankie Griffin earned a third-place finish for a Louisiana in the women's high jump after clearing the bar at 5-5. Taylor Davis (5-5) was fifth with Kennedy Washington (5-3) finishing sixth and freshman Ivana Cecchetti 11^th (5-1).

Davis added a sixth-place finish in the triple jump for Louisiana after setting a personal-best at 37-6. Freshman Ariel Young led the Ragin' Cajuns in the event as her personal-best mark of 38-7 was fourth. In the women's long jump, Taylor Walls finished fourth overall (17-11 ½) with Kaprecia Cowans placing sixth (17-8 ¼).

London clocked a time of 8.09 seconds in the women's 55-meter hurdles to finish second overall for Louisiana with Emoni Coleman posting a second-place time of 2:15.93 in the women's 800-meters. India Brown posted a time of 59.17 to finish sixth in the women's 400-meters for the Ragin' Cajuns with Shonita Brome (8^th, 59.42) and Aaliyah Allen (12^th, 1:00.95) following.

Spates anchored the women's 4x400-meter relay team that included Ryan, Brown and Coleman and finished in second place with a time of 3:53.01. The men's 4x400-meter team of Jamhad Booth, Hargrove, Appiah and Fergusson clocked a time of 3:20.91 to finish second overall.

Louisiana will return to action on Sunday when it travels to Birmingham, Ala., to compete at South Alabama's Jaguar Invitational at the Birmingham Crossplex.

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