by Chris Macaluso
LSUsports.net
(4/4/01)
The 2001 LSU men’s 4×400-meter relay team has already put together a better resume than any other relay team in the school’s illustrious track and field history.
The four-man group of Robert Parham, Lueroy Colquhoun, Pedro Tunon and Alleyne Francique set a school record time of 3:04.44 in winning both the individual and team National Championships on March 10. The win marked the first-ever 4×400 meter and indoor National titles in the history of LSU men’s track and field.
The time not only broke the LSU record – it was faster than the winning time at the World Indoor Championships in Lisbon, Portugal the same weekend. The Tigers ended the indoor season with the fastest time in the world and the sixth fastest indoor time ever – that’s not within the collegiate ranks – that’s in the entire history of the event.
Just to prove the school record and world-leading indoor time wasn’t a fluke, the 4×400 team, with Pete Coley running instead of Tunon, set a school record time of 3:01.73 in their first outdoor attempt at last weekend’s Tom Tellez Invitational at the University of Houston. The record setting feat shattered the old school record set six years ago by nearly two seconds and was the fastest time run by any team in the world so far this season.
Despite these astounding accomplishments, Parham and Francique both said they and their teammates are shooting for two loftier goals.
“Our goal is to run faster every time we get on the track,” said Parham, a freshman from Universal City, Texas. “I think we can set both the SEC and NCAA records this year.”
If Parham and his teammates can run faster every time they take to the track, those records may fall before the end of the season.
“I knew we were fast but I didn’t think we’d run 3:01 yet,” said Francique, a newcomer from Essex County Community College (N.J.). “But this group, we can do more. I think we can even run under three minutes by the end of the season.”
The University of Florida set the conference mark in 1988 with a time of 3:00.86. UCLA is the only collegiate team to ever break the three minute-barrier, setting the collegiate record of 2:59.91 in 1988.
Tiger head coach Pat Henry said he believes a team capable of beating the school record by two seconds has the ability to reach almost any goal it sets.
“I have a lot of confidence in this group,” he said. “I think this group is going to continue to get better and improve. I hear them talking about how they want to run faster than what they’ve already run. When you have that attitude you’re going to win.”
Barring injury, Henry said, he believes the five-man rotation will be the best team in the country this season and maybe even next season. Juniors Francique and Colquhoun are the only two upper classmen of the five. The other three are all freshmen.
“Being a freshman, I get a little surprised when I think about our team being the fastest in the world right now,” Parham said. “But that doesn’t change the way we think about running a race. All we know now is that we are the fastest in the world and everyone is chasing us and that makes us run harder.”
“Chasing” the Tigers this week will be a field of the best teams in the country as LSU travels to Austin to compete in the famed Texas Relays.
Henry said he expects a challenge from several teams including SEC rivals Florida and South Carolina as well as Big 12 frontrunner Baylor, the team that finished second to the Tigers at both the NCAA Indoor Championships and last week in Houston.
Hopefully, according to Francique, Baylor and the other teams will stay in nipping at LSU’s heels all the way through the NCAA Outdoor Championships in late May and early June.
“We want to bring home to LSU another National Championship,” he said. “We want the people to notice and appreciate our sport when we bring home another National Championship. It will be great.”