LSU's sprinters sweep 100s

Trinidad runners give Tigers boost

DES MOINES, IOWA -- Trinidad had a big night at the NCAA track and field championships.

Richard Thompson and Kelly-Ann Baptiste, LSU seniors from the small Caribbean nation, won the men's and women's 100 meters Friday under a cloudless Midwest sky.

Thompson eased to victory in 10.12 seconds, followed by Travis Padgett at 10.16. LSU's Trindon Holliday was third at 10.18. Defending champion Walter Dix of Florida State, coming back from a hamstring injury, got off to a bad start and was fourth at 10.22.

"He has been there since my freshman year," Thompson said of Dix, "and knowing he was going to be around for four years, I wondered how am I ever going to win an NCAA championship."

Dix, who again will face Thompson today in the 200 finals, said a restart because of a problem with the starting blocks did not cause his poor start.

"A couple of guys were better than me," he said. "They just worked harder."

Baptiste earned her long-awaited NCAA 100 crown, bursting ahead over the last 40 meters to win in 11.20. Simone Facey of Texas A&M was second in 11.27.

"This track meet is no different than any other one," Baptiste said. "It's just a matter of focus."

The races gave both LSU teams a boost in the team race. The Tigers scored 16 points in the men's 100 and 13 in the women's race.

The LSU women also got a victory in the 400 hurdles, with Nickiesha Wilson edging defending champion Nicole Leach of UCLA in 54.45.

Florida State led in its bid for a third straight men's team title with 32 points. LSU was second with 31 but had only two athletes competing in today's final day of competition. Auburn was third with 26.

Defending champion Arizona State, with a 1-2 finish in the discus, led in the women's standings with 36 points. LSU had 31 and Stanford 21.

Jenny Barringer of Colorado broke her collegiate record in the women's 3,000 steeplechase by a whopping 4.75 seconds.

Barringer, who was born in Webster City, Iowa, but moved to Oviedo, Fla., smiled as she sprinted the final 80 meters to win in 9:29.20 seconds, the second-fastest ever by an American in the event and tied for fifth-fastest in the world this year.

Barringer, the youngest member of the U.S. team at the world championships in 2007, broke the college mark of 9:33.95 she set last September at the DecaNation Championships in Paris. It was the fastest ever in the event in the United States.

The American record of 9:28.75 was set by Lisa Galaviz in Belgium last year.

Dix wasn't supposed to run in the 400 relay, but the defending NCAA 100 and 200 champion showed up anyway. He ran the first leg but had trouble with the handoff. Holliday anchored LSU to the win in 38.42. Texas A&M was second at 38.58. Florida State finished fourth.

Georgia sophomore Chris Hill won the men's javelin at 257-3.

Three UNC athletes earned All-America honors. LaToya James finished fourth in the women's 400 hurdles, and Donte Nall placed fifth in the high jump, clearing 7-1 1/2.

Patience Coleman placed ninth in the women's high jump with a best of 5-9 3/4.

Austin Davis advanced to today's men's triple jump final when he leaped 52-0, six inches shy of his personal best.

Two N.C. State seniors turned in All-America performances Friday.

Tibor Vegh finished 10th in the men's 5,0000, and Stephen Furst was 11th in the steeplechase.

Vegh posted his fastest time of the season in the steeplechase, dropping six seconds off his prelim time with a 8:46.50.

Furst ran a 13:49.87, just less than seven-tenths off his best.

Duke's John Austin placed eighth in the javelin at 216-10 and earned All-America status. The redshirt freshman is the first Duke men's track athlete to do so since Brent Warner in the pole vault in 2003.

(Material from college news releases was used in this report.)