Jones, two Tigers advance at Olympic Trials
EUGENE, Ore. — Three of LSU’s Olympic hopefuls kept their dream alive while advancing to semifinals on a rainy Friday afternoon at Hayward Field.
Lolo Jones, a 2008 Olympic finalist along with senior Rebecca Alexander and sophomore Jasmin Stowers survived first-round action at the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials at the University of Oregon.
Alexander opened by advancing to the 400-meter semifinal before Jones and Stowers earned their lanes in the semifinal round of the 100-meter hurdles scheduled to run Saturday night.
Alexander qualified with her third-place finish in the second qualifying heat in 52.30 seconds to trail Sanya Richards-Ross (51.69) and Debbie Dunn (52.24) with the 10th-fastest time of the afternoon. She will now line up in the first of two heats in at 7:15 p.m. CDT Saturday.
Jones had a third-place finish in the second heat of the 100-meter hurdles as she clocked 13.01 (+0.3) for third place behind Kellie Wells (12.68) and Danielle Carruthers (12.88). The 2008 champion at the U.S. Olympic Trials owns a seasonal best of 12.75.
Stowers took fifth place in the fifth prelim heat with a time of 13.15 (+0.7). She clocked the 19th-fastest time of the day.
The semifinal round of the women’s 100-meter hurdles is scheduled to run at 5:15 p.m. CDT, followed by the final at 7:45 p.m. as the top-three finishers will punch their ticket to London.
“I know there’s a lot of room for improvement,” Jones said. “Everybody is hopeful, and I am as well. I’ve just got to put it together for tomorrow. I’m looking forward to getting back out here for the semifinals.”
Seven other athletes with LSU ties failed to advance.
Lady Tigers sophomore and NCAA silver medalist Charlene Lipsey finished fourth in her heat of the women’s 800 meters (2:03.74).
Former Tiger Richard Jones (1:48.29) finished 19th overall in the men’s 800 meters, while former Lady Tiger LaTavia Thomas (2:28.43) fell in her heat and did not advance in the women’s 800 meters.
Three other former LSU All-Americans competed Friday as Jeremy Hicks, Zedric Thomas and Kenyanna Wilson took part. Hicks posted a mark for 24 feet, 9¾ inches for 16th place and Thomas recorded a series-best of 24-3½ for 21st place in the long jump, and Wilson ran 11.42 (+1.6) for fifth place in her heat and 20th place overall in the women’s 100-meter dash.
Tigers senior Michael Lauro opened with a mark of 212-0 in the hammer, where he finished in 20th place.