BATON ROUGE, La. – Southeastern Louisiana sophomore high jumper Rodney Ruffin and sophomore mid-distance runner Dekayta Alex set school records at the indoor season-opening LSU Purple Tiger Invitational Friday at the LSU Carl Maddox Field House.

    Ruffin won the high jump after clearing 7 feet, 0.5 inches, breaking the old mark of 7-0.25 set by Andy Steib in 1985.

    Alex took third in the 600 meters in 1 minute, 36.67 seconds, eclipsing her previous school record of 1:41.25 set at the 2016 McNeese State Invitation I. Senior Lekesha Jelks also beat the old mark in finishing sixth in 1:38.69.
    
    Junior Devin King added a victory in the pole vault for the Lions after clearing 17-01.75.

    "It was a good opener for us," Southeastern head coach Sean Brady said. "We got through the meet healthy and got a trial run and set two school records. I thought as a group we performed well. We got a chance to assess some things and see what we need to work on moving forward so it was a win for us."

    Ruffin was successful on his first six jumps of the day. He missed on his first two attempts at 7-0.5 but cleared the height on his final attempt.

    Ruffin earlier took fourth in the long jump at 23-01.25. Senior Steven Barze was eighth at 22-06.5.

    Senior Andre Colebrook (1:20.91) took third in the 600 meters. Colebrook later joined senior Dwayne Woodard, junior Albert Martinez and senior Deandre Henderson in placing third in the 4x400 relay in 3:21.56.
    
    Freshman Justin Taylor (8.46) was fourth in the 60-meter hurdles in his collegiate debut.
    
    Senior Julian Maze finished fifth in the triple jump at 47-07.25.

    Southeastern placed three runners in the top seven in the 400 as Woodard finished fourth (51.50), Martinez sixth (52.15) and freshman Martavius James seventh (52.33).

    The Lady Lions' 4x400 relay squad of Alex, Jelks, sophomore Jaslyn Bowman and junior Treshanna Taylor took third in 4:01.48

    Sophomore Tayla Celestine came in seventh in the high jump after clearing 5-04.25. Senior Kaelynn Smith was seventh (25.89) and Bowman eighth (25.93) in the 200.

    Southeastern is scheduled to compete at the McNeese Opener in Lake Charles next Friday.