Sprinters dominate for LSU

FAYETTEVILLE - LSU crushed all comers, as expected, in the top sprint events, the men's and women's 100 and 200 meters, at the NCAA Mideast Regional on Saturday.

Richard Thompson and Kelly-Ann Baptiste led the onslaught, as both pulled off doubles with victories in the 100 and 200.

The Tigers' men and women combined to score 39 points in the 100 meters alone.

Thompson broke the tape in 9. 97, the fastest time in the history of McDonnell Field and the Mideast Regional. The record came with a wind measurement of 1. 9 meters per second, just under the 2. 0 level that would have negated any record as wind-aided.

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Thompson's teammate Trindon Holliday finished second in 10. 07 to give the Tigers 18 points on the men's side.

Kelly-Ann Baptiste won the women's 100 in 10. 97, which would have been a stadium and meet record if it hadn't been aided by a wind reading of 3. 5 meters per second. Baptiste was joined on the awards stand by her teammates Juanita Broaddus, Keyanna Wilson and Samantha Henry, who were fourth, fifth and seventh, respectively.

Thompson took the men's 200 in 20. 21 seconds, while teammate Gabriel Mvumuvre was sixth in 20. 83.

Baptiste crossed the line in 22. 67 to win the 200, while Henry was seventh (23. 45 ) and Broaddus was eighth (24. 07 ).

The LSU women scored but three points in the field events, but ran away with the team scoring crown by racking up more than 105 points in the running events. Coaches impressed

Arkansas' John McDonnell Field, the site for the Mideast Regional, will host the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in 2009.

"It's a phenomenal facility," Wisconsin Coach Ed Nuttycombe said. "I think it will be a great place for the nationals."

John McDonnell Field, named in honor of the legendary Arkansas coach, was built in 2006.

"It's state of the art for a track facility, a really great setup," Michigan Coach Ron Warhurst said. "I wouldn't mind having this back home."

The facility cost about $ 13 million and includes permanent seating for 7, 000 fans, a giant video board, locker rooms and a huge press box.

"It's fantastic when you can put that much money into a track facility," Warhurst said. "But with the tradition John has created here, you wouldn't expect anything less."

Nuttycombe agreed.

"If the University of Arkansas can't build and dedicate a top facility to their program and John McDonnell, then who can ?" Nuttycombe said. Nuttycombe and Warhurst said one of the nicest features about Arkansas' facility is that all of the throwing events can be held on the field within the stadium. "That's great for all those kids," Warhurst said. "They can feel like they're right here in the middle of the meet instead of being stuck outside somewhere."

Another award Arkansas' John McDonnell was named SEC Outdoor Coach of the Year earlier this week. It might have seemed like a no-brainer after Arkansas won the SEC Outdoor title two weeks ago in Auburn, but McDonnell was appreciative of the honor from his coaching peers. "That was nice, because that was my last conference meet, and it was nice to go out as a winner," said McDonnell, who has led Arkansas to 84 conference and 42 national titles. "My peers were very decent to me, no doubt.

" They could have voted for someone else, but I appreciate them sending me out in style."

McDonnell has been named National Coach of the Year 12 times in indoor track, 11 times in outdoor track and seven times in cross country for a total of 30 awards. He has been conference Coach of the Year 50 times and Region Coach of the Year 62 times. Hammer slammer

Auburn's Cory Martin defended his Mideast Regional hammer throw championship in dominating fashion.

The bearded big man, who won the shot put Friday, had a regional- and John McDonnell Field-record 234 feet, 11 inches heading into the final throw of the competition. Martin spun and unleashed a mighty bellow and a personal-best 239-10 with that last throw.

"That one was just for fun," Martin said. "I had already won it, so I just wanted to push it, see how far you can get."

All five of Martin's legal throws - the shortest being 224-2 - were longer than the best throw of any other competitor at the regional.

Martin defended his Mideast titles in both the shot put and hammer throw in Fayetteville. His teammate, Jake Dunkleberger, finished second in the hammer (222-6 ), helping spur the Tigers to 42 points, 19 ahead of second-place LSU, through six men's events.

Hill climber Arkansas State's Kazmere Hill brought home the Indians' only points of the meet by finishing seventh in the 110-meter hurdles. Hill's time of 13. 88 seconds was good for two points. Pole vaulter Jeremy Willis finished ninth, just out of the scoring, with a vault of 16 1 feet, 7 / 4 inches.

Clearing up Saturday's field event finals got started under dark, threatening clouds, and about 90 minutes in, a light rain fell at John McDonnell Field. Shortly afterward, the skies turned blue, the sun came out and a warm afternoon turned into evening for the NCAA Mideast Regional. Pickin' it up LSU's Gabriel Mvumuvre, who ran the third leg on the 400-meter relay, wisely went back and picked up the dropped baton after failing in his exchange with Richard Thompson with the Tigers in the lead through two legs. The Tigers went ahead and finished the relay in eighth place (44. 79 seconds ), which was critical for their future. By finishing the relay, LSU is still eligible to advance to nationals based on its previous qualifying time of 38. 67, the best in the country.

Tough spot Arkansas freshman Chris Bilbrew ran a personal-best 1 minute, 49. 23 seconds in the 800 meters Friday. That was the ninth-fastest time, leaving Bilbrew the first runner left out of the eight-man final. The same thing happened to him at the SEC Championship two weeks ago. "That's a tough break for Chris," Arkansas Coach John McDonnell said. "I wish more schools had a nine-lane track." Arkansas has a nine-lane track, but because not all of the four regional sites do, only eight advance to the final. "Chris has got a good future ahead of him," McDonnell said. "He's going to be a good 800-meter runner." Jump-off redux For the second day in a row, the high jump required a jumpoff to determine the fifth and final automatic qualifier for the national meet. Miami of Ohio's Kristina

3 Bolterstein jumped 5 feet, 9 / 4 inches on her third attempt to edge Wisconsin's Megan Seidl for the final automatic slot. 1 Both had jumped 5-9 / 4 in the finals. Southern University's Jason House won a five-way jump-off for fifth place on Friday.