Terrance Laird, Matthew Boling, and Tamara Clark were among the top qualifiers in the men’s and women’s 100 meters on the second day of competition at the 2021 SEC Outdoor Championships on Friday.
Leading The Way For The Finals
Laird of LSU clocked the fastest time in the men’s event after running 10.17 seconds to win his semi-final heat, while Clark of Alabama paced the women’s qualifiers with a time of 11.15 seconds.
After setting the pace in the 200m heats on Thursday, Clark returned on Friday evening to secure her heat in the 100m, winning the third section to stay on course to win the SEC Outdoor Championships sprint double.
The Crimson Tide junior set a facility record on her way to booking a place in the final with Brandee Presley of Ole Miss running 11.52 and Florida’s Semira Killebrew clocking 11.54 to take second and third, respectively in the heat and also made the final.
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Jada Baylark of Arkansas won heat two with 11.32 for the second-fastest time heading into the final, while LSU’s Symone Mason posted 11.34 to take heat one with the third quickest time heading into Saturday’s title race.
Tennessee through Maia McCoy (11.37) and Joella Lloyd (11.45) will have two finalists with Zhane Smith of Texas A&M (11.50) also earning a place in the decider.
Favorites Advanced To Men’s Final
On the men’s side, Laird, who set the pace in the 200m on Thursday night, blazed away from the field to win his semi-final comfortably and remain the favorite to land the 2021 SEC Outdoor Championships sprint double.
Matthew Boling, the Georgia sophomore matched his best for the season when he won his heat in 10.21 over Florida’s Dedrick Vanover who ran 10.27 for second place.
Lance Lang of Kentucky was also a heat winner on Friday, clocking a PB of 10.24 when taking heat two, while Florida’s Joseph Fahnbulleh won heat four in 10.30, but had to work hard to overcome the rest of the field after a very poor reaction to the gun saw him getting off to a slow start.
Ryan Martin of Texas A&M (10.32) Roman Turner (10.34) of Arkansas, Aggies’ Emmanuel Yeboah (10.36) and Georgia’s Arian Smith (10.40) also advanced to the final.
The men’s 100m final is slated for Saturday at 6:25 p.m. CT with the women’s race down for 6:35 p.m.
