PHILADELPHIA — All-American Walter Davis won the long jump title, leading another strong day for the LSU track and field squad on day two of the Penn Relays at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.
Davis struggled with his approach on the notoriously tough runways at Franklin Field, but came up with a jump of 25 feet 8 inches to edge defending Penn and NCAA champion Savante Stringfellow of Ole Miss in the latest showdown of one the sport’s premier rivalries.
With the win, Davis became the first LSU man to ever win the long jump title at the Penn Relays. Davis fouled on four of his six attempts, but came up with the necessary effort when it counted most.
“This is a tough place to jump,” said LSU head coach Pat Henry. “Walter is a tremendous competitor and that showed today. He simply does what he needs to do to win, or put himself in position to win.”
On the track, the Lady Tigers were victims of a mild upset, as they finished second in the 4×100-meter relay to SEC-rival Florida. The Lady Tigers struggled with their exchanges and were never able to overcome an early deficit in the race, as Florida matched LSU’s national leading time of 43.43 seconds to win, while the Lady Tigers posted a time of 43.94.
The group of Sa’Donna Thornton, Stephanie Durst, Myra Combs and Muna Lee fell behind early and never recovered. The loss was only the Lady Tigers’ second of the season in the event, as they entered with the No. 1 seed.
Elsewhere on the track, the Lady Tigers were sharp, however. LSU posted the fastest 4×200-meter relay time of the day in preliminary action, gaining the top lane assignment for Saturday’s final.
Ronetta Smith, Lee, Durst and Combs got out quick and blew away their heat, posting a time of 1:31.89, the best time of the day by more than a second.
On Saturday the Lady Tigers will try to sweep the major 4×200 meter titles, as they won the Texas Relays title earlier this month.
In addition, the time was the sixth fastest in Penn Relays history. The Lady Tigers now own seven of the top 10 fastest times in Penn Relays history.
Individually, the Lady Tigers got strong performances from Lee and Lolo Jones who both advanced in their signature events. Lee posted the fastest qualifying time in the 100-meter dash with a blazing time of 11.31. On Saturday Lee can become only the second freshman in Penn Relays history to win the event joining former LSU All-American Kwajalein Butler who won the event as a frehman in 1995.
Jones won a tighly contested battle in her heat, clocking a time of 13.43 to advance to Saturday’s final. Jones edged Kia Davis of St. Augustine’s for the win in her heat, beating Davis in a lean at the line.
On the men’s side, LSU advanced both relays in action on Friday, looking particularly sharp in the 4×400-meter relay. LSU’s world-leading squad served notice is will be ready to run fast in Saturday’s final with a convincing 3:03.87 behind a 44.8 anchor split from Alleyne Francique.
The group of Robert Parham, Lueroy Colquhoun, Pete Coley and Francique ran the fastest time on the day by more than four seconds. LSU will gun for its first-ever Penn Relays title in the event.
The Tigers also advanced their 4×100-meter relay team to Saturday’s final, as the group of Devery Henderson, Parham, Gerald Green and Dwhyte Barrett struggled with exchanges, but still won their heat in a time of 40.51. LSU posted the sixth-fastest qualifying time on the day.
Individually, Henderson and Green fell just short in their bids to qualify for the men’s 100-meter dash final on Saturday.
“Overall, we had another really good day today,” added Henry. “In addition to Walter’s title, we looked good on the women’s 4×200 and the men’s mile relay. We need to get a little bit cleaner exhcanges on the short relay, but we still had another good day.
“Tomorrow becomes very important for us because it’s our last time stepping on a track in a competitive situation until the SEC Championships in two weeks.”
The Penn Relays conclude tomorrow with all remaining relay finals. The Lady Tigers will try to win their sixth 4×200-meter relay title in eight years, while the men’s 4×400-meter relay team continues in its quest to become only the second team in NCAA history to run a sub-three minute time. In addition, Walter Davis can become the first man since 1998 to sweep the horizontal jumps when he competes in the triple jump.