Holliday goes for 100-meter title tonight

• By SHELDON MICKLES
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Jun 12, 2009

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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — LSU sprinter Trindon Holliday will get a final shot tonight at the one thing that has eluded him in his career, an outdoor individual title in the NCAA Track and Field Championships.

Holliday, the 2007 runner-up in the 100 meters and third-place finisher last season, will race for the coveted title around 7:45 p.m. at Arkansas’ John McDonnell Field.

Holiday, a senior who will anchor the Tigers’ 4x100-meter relay team in a final earlier in the evening, set the stage for a strong finish to his outdoor career when he clocked a personal-best time of 10.00 seconds in the prelims Wednesday. Clemson’s Jacoby Ford, the NCAA indoor champion at 60 meters, should be Holliday’s top competition after he ran a 10.01 in the prelims.

LSU coach Dennis Shaver said Holliday, the NCAA indoor runner-up at 60 meters in March, worked hard this spring to reach his goal.

“He came out this year with a different focus on trying to improve on his sprint mechanics,” Shaver said. “We identified some things that in the past he understood, but this year he started asking more questions and wanted more feedback. He’s really became a true student of sprinting and he understands what he has to do. No matter what happens. Trindon is certainly a better sprinter than he was a year ago.”

Relay strong

Tonight, Holliday and the men’s 4x100 relay team, which also includes Barrett Nugent, Will Coppage and Armanti Hayes, will try to defend the title the Tigers won a year ago in Des Moines, Iowa.

The Tigers, who have won seven of the last 17 sprint relay titles, will be challenged by Texas A&M and Florida. A&M had the fastest time in the semifinals Wednesday with a 38.51, while Florida posted a 38.57.

LSU’s time of 38.72 was the third fastest.

The Lady Tigers will go after their 13th all-time 4x100 relay title and first since 2004. They’ll go with a different lineup after Cassandra Tate scratched from the 200 prelims Thursday because of an injury and can’t compete in any other events. She will likely be replaced by Kristina Davis.

LSU clocked the second-fastest time in the semifinals Wednesday at 43.20 seconds.

Louisiana connection

Southeastern Louisiana’s Adonson Shallow finished 11th in the men’s discus qualifying Thursday and advanced to Saturday’s final, highlighting action for athletes from state schools other than LSU.