LYNCHBURG, Va. – The Louisiana Tech men's and women's track & field programs saw a strong start to open up competition at the Conference USA Indoor Track & Field Championships on Friday at the Liberty Indoor Track Complex in Lynchburg, Virginia.
 
Friday was highlighted by Cobe Johnson seeing a podium finish and a silver medal in the men's long jump with a mark of 7.40 meters. It's his second consecutive season with a podium finish at the indoor championships after earning a silver medal in the long jump in 2025.
 
Jamara Patterson and Osaretin Joy Usenbor hold the top-two fastest times in the women's 400 prelims, with Patterson winning the fifth heat and Usenbor finishing right behind her teammate. Rickey Williams III and Sabastian Bradley-Reed also qualified for the men's 400 finals, with Bradley-Reed holding the second-fastest time in the prelims and Williams just behind him in third.
 
Usenbor saw a season-best 53.94 while Williams ran a 47.37 for a new season-best mark.
 
Freshman Tyrica Sterrett was stellar in her performance during the women's 60, winning her heat to automatically qualify for the final as well as holding the fastest time of all competitors in the preliminary round. She clocked a time of 7.40 for a new personal mark.
 
Madonna Favour and Carl Murray IV qualified for the final in the men's 60, with both athletes getting close second-place finishes in their heats. Favour saw a PR of 6.74 and Murray ran a season-best 6.77. Favour and Murray sit side-by-side in the prelim standings in fourth and fifth going into Championship Saturday.
 
Brayden Vining made program history in the men's 800 on Friday, becoming the first male distance runner for LA Tech to qualify for an event final since 2013. He ran a time of 1:51.74 for a new personal mark and moves into eighth all-time in indoor program history, sitting among the top five going into the finals.
 
Jaitlyn Ware rounded out the qualifiers for Tech, running 24.16 to qualify for the women's 200 finals on Saturday to sit sixth overall in the prelims.
 
Kaitlyn Washington secured points for Tech on Friday. She scored two points with a seventh-place finish in the women's weight throw. The women's DMR comprised of Lexa Thompson, Brooklyn Nix, Brooke Fontenot and Delaney Lopez set a new program record with a time of 12:43.20, breaking the previous record from 2017 by just over four seconds.

SUPPORT LA TECH ATHLETICS
Championships require championship resources.  Fans can make a direct impact on the success of LA Tech Athletics through LTAC, Aillet Society, T-Club, and Young Alumni program as well as the CHAMP fund, a revenue-sharing initiative designed to directly support LA Tech Athletics through NIL and marketing opportunities for Bulldog and Lady Techster student-athletes.  Visit BuildTheLegacy.com today.  
 
BARK LOUDER
Our mission is to engage, develop, and advance the Louisiana Tech Athletics brand.  You can do that by spending time consuming our content and by investing your talents.  By barking louder with your time and talent, you can affect progress and brand advancement in a meaningful way.  Visit LATechSports.com/BarkLouder today.  You bark.  We bark.  Louder together.
 
SOCIAL MEDIA
For all the latest in Bulldog Track & Field/Cross Country, follow us on X (@LATechTFXC), Instagram (@LATechTFXC), and Facebook (LATechTFXC).