JONESBORO, Ark. – Darius Roy sprinted to two second place finishes in the two events he participated in, and Michael Batson took top honors in one event to lead the New Orleans Privateers Track and Field team, which took part in the Arkansas State Invitational on Friday.
Roy narrowly missed claiming top honors in the 55-meter dash. His clocking of 6.360 seconds was just .005 seconds off the winning time set by Corey Bassett of Harding. The final time also represented the second-fastest time in Privateers indoor track history.
Later in the day, Roy fell just short of first place in the 200-meter. Roy's time of 22.13 was good enough for second place behind Joey Meyer who competed unattached and posted a final clocking of 22.05 seconds.
The Privateers took their first individual event in the form of Batson in the men's 800-meter. Batson competed in the final heat, which produced six of the top eight finishers. The top four of the event were separated by .57 seconds. Batson also posted the fourth-fastest 800-meter clocking in the Privateers' indoor track history, and the fastest time since 2003.
"Darius and Mike really showed what they're capable of tonight," said Coach Mike Erb of the Privateers' top performers on the day. "In fields stacked with Southland quality competition, they both definitely let the conference know that the University of New Orleans is ready to roll."
Other notables included Sofia Johnsson who qualified for the finals of the women's 55-meter hurdles, and wound up placing fifth. LaKayla LaFrance finished fourth in the women's high jump by clearing a mark of 1.58 meters. Her fellow teammate, Fadeke Adeola finished ninth in the same event.
Coach Erb also highlighted Johnsson's performance on the day, which was her first hurdle event. "Sofia did a great job in her hurdle debut. She ran a good preliminary round and came back with an even faster time in the finals."
The next indoor event for the Privateers will be in two weeks when they take part in the Samford Invitational. The event is slated over two days and will start on Friday, Feb. 7.