School Records Fall for Louisiana at SBC Outdoor Championships

MOBILE, Ala. – Juliette Smith and Ta'La Spates each recorded new school records while Frankie Griffin and freshman Osayi Omorodion each posted second-place finishes in their events to lead the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Track and Field team after the second day of the SBC Outdoor Championships on Friday at Jaguar Track.

Louisiana finished the second day of the three-day meet in third place on the women's side with 54 points with the men's team in ninth (10).

The final day of action is set for Saturday beginning at 11:30 a.m., the men's triple jump before running events start at 4 p.m. Live results will be available at RaginCajuns.com. Day two of the SBC's ESPN+ coverage beginning at 4 p.m. with Drew Fellios (pxp) and former Olympian Damu Cherry-Mitchell (color) providing the commentary.

Smith got the day started for Louisiana in the women's heptathlon, preserving her first-day lead and scoring a school-record 5,483 points to claim the individual title. The senior, who won three of four events on Thursday, finished fourth overall in the long jump (18-8) for Louisiana before placing fifth overall in both the javelin (125-7) and 800-meters (2:25.96) to edge South Alabama's Hanna-Mai Vaikla by 42 points and eclipsing Jasmin Fusilier's school-record (5,137) set at the 2015 SBC Championships.

Spates became the first Ragin' Cajun to eclipse the 55-second mark in the women's 400-meters after finishing second overall in the preliminaries at a blistering 54.38 seconds and breaking Michelle Nelson's school record (55.11) set in 1999.

Louisiana added points on the women's side from Omorodion who earned a second-place finish in the women's jump (19-11) with Griffin leading a trio of women's high jumpers in the scoring column.

Griffin placed second overall in the event after clearing the bar at 5-8 ¾ for Louisiana with Taylor Davis (sixth) and Kennedy Washington (eighth) both clearing at 5-5 ¾.

Obdarius Ware and John Joseph scored Louisiana's first points on the men's side after finishing in the top eight in long jump with freshman Tyren Hannah posting a sixth-place finish in the men's shot put. Ware placed third overall for Louisiana with a mark of 24-7 ¾ with Joseph finishing eighth at 23-9 and Hannah recording a throw of 51-2 ¼.

Eight Ragin' Cajuns qualified for the finals in their respective events with Brock Appiah (10.41) posting the fastest time in the men's 100-meter dash with Terroll Jolla finishing seventh (10.59). Yves Cherubin and Tahj Whitfield each moved on to the finals in the men's 110-meter hurdles for the Ragin' Cajuns with Cherubin (13.96) posting the second-fastest time overall with Whitfield (14.41) finishing seventh.

Kiana Foster clocked a time of 11.63 seconds in the women's 100-meter dash for Louisiana while Emoni Coleman qualified for the finals in the 800-meters (2:15.20). The Ragin' Cajuns qualified a pair in the women's 100-meter hurdles with Kennedy London posting the third-best time (13.61) with Serenity Rogers finishing seventh (13.72).

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School Records Fall for Louisiana at SBC Outdoor Championships

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Players Mentioned

Brock Appiah

Yves Cherubin

Emoni Coleman

Taylor Davis

Kiana Foster

Frankie Griffin

Tyren Hannah

Terroll Jolla

John Joseph

Kennedy London

Serenity Rogers

Ta'La Spates

Obdarius Ware

Kennedy Washington

Tahj Whitfield