LSU sprinter earns SEC weekly honor

• Advocate news services
• Published: Mar 26, 2008 - UPDATED: 7:10 a.m.

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LSU freshman sprinter Gabriel Mvumvure was rewarded for his performance in the season opener last weekend by being named the Southeastern Conference Male Freshman Athlete of the Week Tuesday.

Mvumvure, a native of Harare, Zimbabwe, clocked a pair of NCAA regional qualifying times in the 100 and 200 meters in the Tigers’ opener at the Willie Williams Classic in Tucson, Ariz.

He ran his first 100 meters on American soil Saturday and finished with a new personal best and wind-legal time of 10.37 seconds to win the event and qualify for the NCAA Mideast Regional Championships later this spring.

Mvumvure won the 100-meter title at the African Junior Championships last summer with a previous personal best of 10.45. His season-opening time is the fastest 100-meter time recorded by an LSU freshman since Chris Cummings ran a 10.31 in 1995.

Mvumvure’s 10.37 is also the second-fastest time recorded in the NCAA this season and ranks No. 20 among 100-meter sprinters worldwide.

He also qualified to run the 200 meters at the regional meet by winning that event Friday a season-opening time of 21.23.

The 2008 NCAA Mideast Regional Championships are scheduled for May 30-31 in Fayetteville, Ark.

The LSU softball team moved up two spots to No. 8 in both the NFCA/USA Today and ESPN/USA Softball polls released Tuesday.

Riding a 15-game winning streak after sweeping Auburn last weekend, the West Division-leading Tigers (27-4, 6-0 SEC) remain in conference play this week with five league games.

LSU hosts Mississippi State in a mid-week doubleheader today beginning at 4 p.m. The Tigers then travel to Gainesville, Fla., to face Florida in a three-game series, with a doubleheader on Saturday at noon and a single game at noon Sunday.

All five games will be broadcast on the LSU Sports Radio Network in Baton Rouge on The X (104.5/104.9 FM) and in the Geaux Zone on LSUsports.net.

SEC rival Alabama is ranked No. 2 in the NFCA poll and No. 3 by ESPN, followed by Florida at No. 3 and No. 4, respectively. Tennessee is ranked No. 9 in both polls to give the league four teams among the top 10.