PHILADELPHIA — You won’t find the times in the LSU record books, but the Lady Tigers’ track and field team still qualified both its 4×100 and 4×400-meter relay teams into the Championship of America finals Thursday afternoon to kick off action from the Penn Relays.
“I don’t feel like we did a very good job of executing and doing what we were supposed to do in either of the races,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “We need to be more aggressive about getting out there and doing the things we need to do, but the important thing is that we qualified into the finals and we will have a chance to do it again.”
The Lady Tigers’ 4×100-meter relay team will have a shot to win their 11th Penn Relays’ title in the event Friday as the foursome of Sherry Fletcher, Brooklynn Morris, Jessica Ohanaja and Kelly Baptiste advanced after posting the seventh fastest time of the day (45.44).
The 4×400 group of Cynetheia Rooks, Meisue Francis, Tanya Osbourne and Deonna Lawrence turned in the field’s third-best qualifying time, crossing the line in 3:33.56. They were bettered only by Miami (3:31.06) and Texas (3:33.21) in the preliminary rounds.
Also on the track was the distance medley relay group of Katie Dawson, Juanita Broaddus, Lindsay Day and Michelle Hymel. The foursome recorded one of the best DMR efforts in Lady Tiger history, crossing the finish line in 11:59.01. The time, a season-best by over seven seconds, ranks as the sixth best in school history.
In the field events, LSU recorded a pair of top-eight finishes in the women’s championship long jump. Sophomore Andrea Linton jumped 20-3 to finish fifth overall, while sophomore Kathy Coleman placed eighth with a leap of 19-7.
Action from the 112th annual relay carnival continues Friday from Franklin Field. Collegiate competition gets underway at 8 a.m. (CT) with the running events. Field events will follow at 9 a.m.