BATON ROUGE — The LSU track and field team was sharp in its final regular season home outing, winning seven events while registering nine NCAA qualifying marks at the LSU Alumni Gold Relays at Bernie Moore Track Stadium Saturday.
Alleyne Francique and Muna Lee added new NCAA automatic qualifiers, while both squads were able to improve in a number of areas on Saturday.
“We had a good outing today,” said LSU head coach Pat Henry. “We got some more athletes qualified, and more importantly at this time of year, we came away healthy. All in all, a very productive day for us.”
Francique broke his own Grenadian 400-meter record, winning his signature event in a blazing time of 45.23. The time is the fastest time in the nation this year based on marks entering this weekend’s competition and is the second fastest time in LSU history.
Lee was already a high provisional qualifier in the 100-meter dash but changed her status to automatic, winning the short sprint in a personal best time of 11.30.
Lee also anchored the Lady Tigers to an impressive victory in the women’s 4×100-meter dash, as she joined with Lolo Jones, Stephanie Durst and Myra Combs to clock an NCAA automatic time of 44.00, the second different LSU short relay combination to automatically qualify.
Other notable performances on the track for the Lady Tigers came from Combs and Ronetta Smith in the 200-meter dash. Each recorded their first provisional marks of the season in the event, registering times of 23.20 and 23.25 respectively.
In the middle distance events, the Lady Tigers got quality finishes from Xyllena Lynch and Susanne Strunz in the 800 and 1,500-meter runs. Lynch finished second in the half mile to former LSU All-American and NCAA champion Claudine Williams and posted a time of 2:09.44. Strunz finished third in the 1,500-meter run, but ran a solid time of 4:30.36, just off her season best mark.
In the field, the Lady Tigers got an improved NCAA provisional mark from Chenelle Marshall. The senior finished second in the long jump with a season-best effort of 20-5 1/2. Elsewhere in the field, the Lady Tigers got victories from Bianca Rockett in the triple jump and Candice Gonzalez in the hammer.
On the men’s side, the Tigers opened the day with another consistent showing in the short relay, as the foursome of Devery Henderson, Robert Parham, Gerald Green and Dwhyte Barrett ran a time of 39.78 to post victory in their third fastest time of the season.
Parham later finished second in the 200-meter dash with an NCAA provisional time and personal best of 20.78.
Other highlights for the Tigers included a provisional qualifier from Walter Davis in the long jump and a victory for Javier Nieto in the hammer.
LSU returns to action on Friday when both squads travel to Austin, Texas for the USTCA National Championships at Mike A. Myers Stadium.