LSU pole vaulter Lisa Gunnarsson earned the sixth first team All-America honor of her career on Friday night as the LSU track and field team opened up competition at the NCAA Indoor Championships at the Birmingham CrossPlex.
Gunnarsson, the reigning indoor national champion from 2021, finished fifth overall in the pole vault competition. She cleared four bars on the night with a final height of 14-5.50” which was good enough for fifth place finish and earned four points for her team.
The rest of the evening was qualifying races.
LSU moved four runners in a total of five events on to Saturday’s finals. Favour Ofili advanced to the finals in both the 60-meter dash (7.18) and 200-meter dash (22.66). LSU’s three hurdlers – Eric Edwards Jr., Alia Armstrong, Leah Phillips – all advanced. Edwards Jr. ran a qualifying time of 7.65, while Armstrong (7.86) and Phillips (8.00) turned in solid performances.
Armstrong almost qualified for the finals of two events as her time of 7.180 in the 60-meter dash was two-thousandths of a second, 7.178 to 7.180, behind the eighth and final qualifying spot; she finished ninth overall in the event. Amber Anning also took ninth in the 400 meters (52.48).
Both Davis Bove (mile) and Katy-Ann McDonald (800 meters) finished in 15th in their events. Bove ran a time of 4:05.46, and McDonald notched a time of 2:09.12.
LSU’s women sit in 19th place after day one with four points. The LSU women have seven scoring chances on Saturday, while the LSU men have four.
Saturday’s Finalists
Abigail O’Donoghue – High Jump – 12:30 p.m. CT
Nyagoa Bayak – High Jump – 12:30 p.m. CT
Sean Dixon-Bodie – Triple Jump – 3:45 p.m. CT
Apalos Edwards – Triple Jump – 3:45 p.m. CT
John Meyer – Shot Put – 4 p.m. CT
Eric Edwards Jr. – 60m Hurdles – 4:40 p.m. CT
Favour Ofili – 60m Dash – 7:10 p.m. CT
Alia Armstrong – 60m Hurdles – 7:40 p.m. CT
Leah Phillips – 60m Hurdles – 7:40 p.m. CT
Favour Ofili – 200m Dash – 7:50 p.m. CT
Women’s 4x400m Relay – 8:20 p.m. CT
Up Next
The second and final day of the NCAA Indoor Championships will take place Saturday. A full list above can be viewed of when each LSU athlete will compete. Stream links for Saturday can be viewed below.
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