
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - For the third time this season, Joe Patterson set the Louisiana men's outdoor 800m record as the senior punched his ticket to the national quarterfinals at the NCAA East Regional in Jacksonville, Florida.
Patterson made a strong move on the final turn of the race and finished second in his heat to automatically qualify with a time of 1:47.79, shaving 0.1 seconds off the school record. He would finish the event 14th overall. The top 12 finishers on Friday will qualify for the national semifinals, the top three in each heat and the next three fastest times.
The day began at 1:30 p.m. with the men's javelin, but a five-hour-long weather delay pushed the final results back to after 9 p.m. CT. Will Howard, competing in the first heat, finished 47th with a best throw of 180-6/55.03. Teodor Borgius was slated to compete in the pole vault, but due to the weather, the event was postponed until Thursday at 8:30 a.m.
Kobe Mendez opened the track events, finishing with a time of 14.38 to place 41st in the 110m hurdles. Lawson Jacobs came in 25th in the 400m, running a time of 46.56. Rounding out the opening night of action was Mark Daley, placing 41st in the 200m at 21.50.
The day begins bright and early with the women's hammer starting at 7 a.m. CT, before the start of the men's pole vault, with Lily Murray throwing for the Cajuns. Marin Barras will go in the javelin at 11:30 a.m. before Amairi Ashford closes the day in the 100m at 2:30 p.m. in Jacksonville.