University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Southern Miss
LSU Last Chance
Riggien and Jones Raise Their Stock at LSU Final Qualifier
3/5/2011 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
March 5, 2011
BATON ROUGE, La. -- A selected few Golden Eagle track and field athletes traveled to LSU Friday looking to earn a berth in next week's NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championship in College Station, Texas, hosted by Texas A&M.
Making the trip were Chastity Riggien, Ke'Airra Jones, Tori Bowie and Justin Sims. All four athletes earned All-Conference USA honors in their respective events at Conference USA Indoor Championship in Houston a week ago.
Riggien further solidified her position as the fastest woman in Southern Miss history. At the LSU Final qualifier, Riggien ran 7.27 seconds in the 60m dash in establishing a new school record in this event, marking the third time this season she has posted such a mark. At the time, this mark was good enough for 13th fastest in the nation. Riggien started last year by bettering the mark of 7.43 seconds set by Southern Miss great Tanika Liburd. Riggien went on to quicken the school record four times last season finishing with a time of 7.38. At this year's Conference USA Championship, her time of 7.37 was yet another record. Her semi-final time of 7.33 and her finals time of 7.27 were both Southern Miss records. Riggien was led only by LSU All American Kenyanna Wilson who ran an NCAA Automatic qualifying time of 7.26. Riggien's time of 7.27 should be enough to get her through to the NCAA Championship.
"This night belonged to Chastity," Coach Kevin Stephen said. "Just when you think she has run her fastest, she continues to prove that she has another gear. She has broken our school record an astounding seven times in the course of the last two seasons. Chastity is the model student-athlete, maintaining a 3.45 GPA and was on the USTFCCCA All-Academic Team last year. I am so proud of her for her impending berth to the NCAA Indoor Championship and of my sprint coach Shane Brandford for his hard work and dedication."
Jones increased her chances to qualify in the high jump when she cleared a height of 1.82m (5-11.5). This jump was good enough to move her to the 11th spot in the nation in the high jump. Jones is no stranger to the NCAA Championships as she represented Southern Miss at both NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships last year. Standing at only 5 feet 3 inches tall, Jones is one of the nation's premier high jumpers having cleared a bar over 6-feet.
Bowie attempted to better her mark of 41' 10" in the triple jump. Though she won the event, she was not able to better her distance and currently holds the 24th spot in the nation in the triple jump. Bowie however, holds the nation's fifth-best mark in the long jump and has automatically qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championship in that event. She broke the Southern Miss indoor long jump record formerly held by Southern Miss great Tanika Liburd.
Sims, the final member of the Southern Miss contingent, ran time of 6.74 in the finals and posted the third fastest time of the day, but was one-hundredth of a second slower than his personal best of 6.73 achieved at the Conference USA Championship last week. Sims has come on very strong in the short sprints but this time will not likely earn him a berth in the NCAA Indoor Championship.
"My goal for this year was to have three female student-athletes at the NCAA Indoor Championship," said Stephen. "From the looks of it, we will have four ladies, Ganna Demydova in the triple jump, Tori Bowie in the long jump, Chastity Riggien in the 60m and Ke'Airra Jones in the high jump, representing the most ever in school history."
