March 25, 2011

BATON ROUGE, La. – The University of Memphis track and field teams started strong at the LSU Relays, Friday afternoon, with several strong performances from athletes on both the men and women’s teams.

With most of the throws going tomorrow, today’s men’s action was dominated by the hurdlers, specifically the 400m group. Senior Nick Harold qualified second for tomorrow’s final after a blistering 53.01 qualifying mark. Senior Richard Lowe (53.60) and freshman Brandon Williams (54.09) weren’t far behind, qualifying fourth and fifth, respectively, for tomorrow’s final.

In the 110m hurdles, junior Robert Jackson was the second-fastest qualifier, in a 14.27 run.

Freshman Darius Lynwood looked very good in the high jump, with a personal-best 1.98m (6’ 6”) jump earning a fourth-place finish for the Jackson, Tenn., native.

The women’s squad was especially dominant on the opening day, starting with sophomore Kirsten Berding’s victorious high jump of 1.72m (5’ 7.50”), a personal-best for her. The win is Berding’s second all-time in the outdoor high jump.

Another strong performance came from senior Marina Vojinovic’s runner-up shot put throw of 15.41m (50’ 6.75”) that was a mere two inches away from the winning mark.

The successes didn’t end there for the women’s team. Junior Tayanna Simpson qualified for both the 100m hurdles (fifth, 13.95) and the 400m hurdles (third, 1:03.08), which will run tomorrow.

The women’s 4x800m relay team comprised of all freshmen (Kildal, Johnston, Fillingsnes and Taylor) raced to a runner-up finish in the event with a 9:14.31 mark.

The LSU Relays will conclude, tomorrow, beginning at 10:30 a.m. (CT).