Cajuns Compete At SFA Invite; Prepare For Pepsi Florida Relays

LAFAYETTE – Louisiana recorded three first-place finishes, a school record and 11 personal-best performances Thursday as the Ragin' Cajuns track and field team opened competition at Stephen F. Austin's Carl Kight Collegiate Invitational in Nacogdoches, Texas.

Chase Lathrop sits in first place at the halfway point of the men's decathlon, while Andrea Monroy stands second after four events in the women's heptathlon.

The meet at SFA is one of two for Louisiana this weekend, with select athletes traveling to Gainesville, Florida, for the Pepsi Florida Relays, which begin Friday.

Peyton Chaisson captured the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 9 minutes, 9.60 seconds. Spencer Frierson won the women's 10,000 meters in 38:34.30, and Jasmine Sakaguchi claimed the women's pole vault with a personal-best clearance of 12 feet, 10 inches (3.91 meters).

Lathrop won four of five events in the decathlon, taking the 100 meters (10.70 seconds), high jump (6-4 1/4, 1.94m), long jump (23-6 3/4, 7.18m) and shot put (44-11 1/2, 13.70m). He closed the day with 3,957 points, holding a commanding lead over Little Rock's Morcellous Harris (3,390) with five events remaining.

Monroy totaled 2,936 points through four events, placing second behind Lamar's Bethany Kelly. She finished second in the 100-meter hurdles (14.54), placed sixth in the high jump (5-0 1/4, 1.53m), won the shot put (36-10 1/4, 11.23m) and took sixth in the 200 meters (26.34).

Henry Lyon posted a personal-best and school-record time of 3:43.72 to finish third in the men's 1,500 meters. Reece Shelby (3:47.17), Matthew Maynard (3:51.15), Reed Boudreaux (3:58.04) and Justin Descant (4:09.76) also recorded personal-best times.

On the women's side, Isabelle Russell posted the second-fastest time in the 1,500 meters after finishing second overall in the event (4:28.72). Caroline Spalitta placed fifth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (11:25.26), while Chloé Crowell finished fifth in the 5,000 meters (17:23.14).

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Cajuns Compete At SFA Invite; Prepare For Pepsi Florida Relays

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Players Mentioned

Reed Boudreaux

Justin Descant

Spencer Frierson

Chase Lathrop

Henry Lyon

Matthew Maynard

Andrea Monroy

Isabelle Russell

Jasmine Sakaguchi

Reece Shelby

Caroline Spalitta