AUSTIN, Texas — Senior John Moffitt became the first athlete in LSU history to sweep the NCAA long jump titles, winning the outdoor crown on the final jump of the night Thursday at the NCAA Track and Field Championships.
Moffitt, leading the field through five rounds of competition, was surpassed by South Carolina’s Tony Allmond on the sixth jump. Needing to better Allmond’s mark of 27-4 3/4, the six-time All-American took to the runway and catapulted himself an astounding 27-6 3/4 to clinch the title.
“I knew I had it in me to win,” said Moffitt. “I just wanted to keep myself calm and not overdue it. I just took a deep breath and gave it my all.”
The winning mark, which came with a wind reading of +2.6, negating its status in the record books. However, Moffitt’s second-best jump of the evening, 27-2 1/2, had a legal wind reading which grabbed him the school record in the event.
“That performance was huge,” said LSU head coach Pat Henry. “We’ve decided to change John’s name to ‘Big Time’ because he does it when it counts.”
Moffitt broke the 14-year old record of 27-0 1/2 set by former All-American and NCAA champion Llewellyn Starks in 1990.
Fellow teammate and All-American LeJuan Simon was also in the long jump competition, but failed to advance to the finals after fouling on his first three attempts of the evening.
In the women’s long jump, freshman Tina Harris turned in a spectacular performance. The Ruston native entered the meet with the field’s 27th best mark, but turned in a personal-best distance of 21-1 1/2 to finish fifth and earn All-America honors for the first time in her career.
“Tina was unbelievable tonight,” said Henry. “It’s always great to see athlete like that come in and succeed at a meet like this.”
LSU was equally successful in preliminary round competition, advancing eight athletes and three relays teams to the finals.
“We did the things we had to do today,” said Henry. “We got through the rounds and placed people in the positions that we needed to.”
All-American sprinter Muna Lee led the way qualifying in both the 100 and 200 meters. The 17-time All-American from Kansas City, Mo., posted the field’s fastest qualifying mark in the 200 (22.40) and the second-best time in the 100 (11.01).
Lee will be joined by senior All-American Stephanie Durst in the 200 final. Durst won her heat in 22.78, her second-fastest time of the season.
In an unbelievably fast 100-meter hurdles field that saw all nine qualifiers break the 13 second barrier, the Lady Tigers advanced three athletes. Junior RaNysha LeBlanc and senior Brittany Littlejohn each posted wind-aided season-bests of 12.92 and 12.94, respectively. Lolo Jones, a two-time All-American in the event, advanced with a wind legal time of 12.96.
Lady Tiger senior Neisha Bernard-Thomas moved on in the 800 meters. The four-time All-American posted the second-best time of the day in winning her heat in 2:04.21.
The men’s 4×100 automatically qualified to the finals, finishing second in their heat with a time of 39.10. Kelly Willie, Marvin Stevenson, Robert Parham and Bennie Brazell were just .07 seconds shy of heat winner TCU (39.03) and advanced with the field’s fifth-fastest qualifying time.
Both the Tiger and Lady Tiger 4×400-meter relays also moved on to Saturday’s finals each winning their respective heats. The men’s foursome of Marvin Stevenson, Pete Coley, Bennie Brazell and Kelly Willie clocked 3:02.30, while Nadia Davy, Bernard-Thomas, Tanya Osbourne and Hazelann Regis record a time of 3:31.34 for the women.
In the field, All-American Daniel Trosclair was the lone LSU competitor to advance to the finals. The senior from Gray, La., cleared a season-best tying 17-4 1/2 in the pole vault to move on.
Action from the NCAA Championships will continue tomorrow. Field events will begin at 11 a.m. and running events will follow at 7 p.m.
LSU National Champions
MEN
John Moffitt, 1st-Long Jump (27-6 3/4)
LSU All-Americans
WOMEN
Tina Harris, 5th-Long Jump (21-1 1/2)