Jan. 27, 2006

Baton Rouge, LA - Jimmie Heath became the first 17 foot pole vaulter in McNeese State history and Quinten Lawrence set a school record in the 60 meter dash during the LSU Bayou Bengal indoor track and field meet here Friday.

Heath went 17-2 3/4 to crack the school indoor pole vault record of 16-8 3/4 that had been set last year by Cameron Nott. The vault came during the second day action of the heptathlon in which Heath placed fifth with 4,718 points.

Besides his first place finish in the pole vault, his other performances in the heptathlon on Friday had him taking sixth place in the 60 meter hurdles at 8.80 and sixth place in the 1000 meter run at 3:11.11.

Lawrence, a Cowboy football standout making his debut with the track team, clocked a 6.87 in the prelims of the 60 meter dash. That broke the school record of 6.95 that had been set by Reggie Howard in 2000.

Lawrence had a false start in the finals but did go on to also finish seventh in the high jump at a height of 6-4 3/4.

"We're estatic about the records," Cowboy head coach Ty Sevin said. "We felt that the 17 foot vault was coming but didn't think it would be at this time and in the multi-event. This qualifies him for the nationals and is also the No. 1 vault in the conference.

"Quinten's run was a pleasant surprise for us and the other guys in the 60 meter dash also ran well."

In other action for the Cowboys in the meet on Friday, Alan Foolkes finished second in the 3000 meter run at 8:39.48, Darrick Brown finished fifth in the high jump at 6-4 3/4 and was eighth in the long jump at 22-11 3/4 while Marcus Brown was fourth in the triple jump at 47-0 3/4.

Devin Rodriguez placed second in the pole vault at 15-9, Ryan Lancon was third at 15-3 and James Overbo was fifth at 14-9. Also, Vaalyn Jackson finished fifth in the shot put at 53-3, Terry Lewis was eighth in the 400 meter dash at 50.91, Brooks Lecompte was eighth in the mile run at 4:31.63 and Emile Robinson was 9th in the 60 meter hurdles at 8.49.

For the Cowgirls, the top individual finish was a third place by Mary Katherine Shaw with an 11-3 3/4 effort in the pole vault. Also, Desiree Boxie finished fourth in the long jump with a 17-1 1/2 leap and was 10th in the 200 meter dash at 26.74, Sonia Clark finished sixth in the mile run at 5:29.87, Amesha Forward was seventh in the long jump at 16-6 and 9th in the triple jump at 35-10 3/4 and Katarina Busljeta was ninth in the shot put at 39-7 1/4 and 10th in the weight throw at 43-1