PHILADELPHIA ? The LSU men’s track and field team lined up with a purpose on the final day of the 113th Penn Relays and made a statement by winning a pair of “Championship of America” relay titles in front of a lively crowd of 49,363 at Franklin Field on Saturday.
The Tigers successfully defended their titles in both the 4×100 and 4×400-meter relays, while the Lady Tigers added titles in both the 4×100 and sprint medley relay on Friday to give LSU a total of four relay championships for the weekend.
The Lady Tigers are now just one short of Villanova for the all-time lead with 25 relay titles at one of the world’s most prestigious outdoor track meets, while the Tigers have won a total of 16 championships at the annual relay carnival.
“It went pretty well for us this weekend with four relay championships,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “Realistically, we won the events we deserved to win. I would have liked to see us run a little bit better in a few of the relays, but it was a solid weekend for both teams.”
The men’s 4×100 relay squad kicked things off for Tigers early in the afternoon by winning its third-straight title at the Penn Relays as it has now won seven Championship of America titles in the event all-time. What’s more impressive is that the squad is now undefeated in the event at both the Texas Relays and Penn Relays over that span.
The foursome of Trindon Holliday, Will Coppage, Marvin Stevenson and Richard Thompson clocked an impressive time of 39.73 seconds to edge the top-ranked squad from Florida State. The Seminoles took a commanding lead in the race until Ronald Wright pulled up on the anchor and Thompson caught him at the tape.
“It was unfortunate that Florida State didn’t have all of their guys healthy, but I thought we ran a great race,” Shaver said. “We had some good sticks, and having Trindon Holliday run the leadoff puts a tremendous amount of pressure on the other teams to catch up.
“That was really the first time that we’ve lined up against Florida State this season, and I can assure you that’s the first time they’ve been behind at the first exchange. Walter Dix makes it all up on the second leg, but I think we’re getting real close to putting it all together in that event.”
The Tigers wrapped up the action in the last championship final of the meet by successfully defending their title in the 4×400 relay with a time of 3 minutes, 7.34 seconds. Siraj Williams, Isa Phillips, Marvin Stevenson and Armanti Hayes held off Texas A&M (3:08.20) to win the team’s third Championship of America title in the event since 2002.
“There are a lot of teams trying to win the 4×4 at this meet, and a freshman anchored our guys to a win,” Shaver said. “We also ran a few guys who we’ll probably substitute, but they’re showing some of the other guys that they want to run. That just shows the competitiveness of that group.”
The Lady Tigers just missed winning the 4×200-meter relay as they finished just a split-second behind champion South Carolina. The foursome of Sherry Fletcher, Samantha Henry, Brooklynn Morris and Kelly Baptiste clocked the seventh-fastest time in Lady Tigers history at 1:31.58 in the finals of the event.
It proved to be a role reversal for the Lady Tigers after Baptiste anchored the same squad to the title in the 4×100 relay on Friday as she held off All-American Shalonda Solomon at the tape for the win. But Solomon caught Baptiste at the line in the 4×200 to give the Gamecocks the winning time of 1:31.56.
The Lady Tigers finished third behind South Carolina (3:29.78) and Texas A&M (3:32.08) in the final of the 4×400 relay after clocking a 3:32.40 on Saturday as they are still looking for their first title in the event since 1993.
“I really felt like we could have run better in both of those relays,” Shaver said. “The regular season is now over, and it’s time we start running to win instead of just to run. That’s what the championship teams are able to do, and I think we certainly have the ability to do that.”
LSU also enjoyed great success in the middle distance relay events as both the men’s and women’s 4×800-meter relay squads established their place in the record books by crossing the finish line with two of the Top 10 times in school history.
The men’s team of Michael Hendry, Jamaal James, Jeffrey Parker and Reuben Twijukye carried the stick around the track with the sixth-fastest time in school history at 7:23.75, while the Lady Tiger foursome of Carliesa Meakes, Tanya Osbourne, Lindsay Day and LaTavia Thomas ran the seventh-fastest time in program history at 8:41.85.
Junior hurdler Jessica Ohanaja was the Lady Tigers’ lone individual champion of the weekend as she won her fourth 100-meter hurdles title this season, beating teammate Nickiesha Wilson to the tape with a new personal best time of 13.09 seconds. Wilson gave the Lady Tigers a 1-2 finish in the event with a second-place effort of 13.18.
Ohanaja becomes LSU’s 45th individual champion in the illustrious history of the Penn Relays as at least one Lady Tiger has won an individual event title in six of the last seven years.
“That’s the first time that Jessica has won a major competition in the 100-meter hurdles since she’s been here, and that will give her a tremendous amount of confidence in the postseason,” Shaver said. “Nickiesha also ran really well, and she just continues to show that she will be a major factor for our success in the championship meets.”
Fletcher proved to be a force for the Lady Tigers as both an individual sprinter and relay runner as she finished runner-up to world leader Kerron Stewart of Auburn in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.43 in Saturday’s final.
Stewart blew away the competition with the fourth-fastest time ever at the Penn Relays at 11.15, while Baptiste took sixth in the event after clocking a time of 11.62 in the final heat. Thompson crossed the finish line with a time of 10.49 to finish third in the men’s collegiate 100-meter dash.
In addition to their success on the track, the Tigers also recorded a pair of top-five finishes in the field events as freshman pole vaulter Josh Dominguez took third place in his specialty with a clearance of 16 feet, 4 ? inches, while sophomore throws standout Chad Radgowski finished fifth in the javelin with a heave of 224-9.
Dominguez has experienced great success at the Penn Relays in the past as he was the high school boy’s pole vault champion as a senior at Ponchatoula High School a year ago after going over the bar at a height of 15-9.
After returning to Baton Rouge, the Tigers and Lady Tigers will take two weeks off for finals before kicking off the championship season May 10-13 when they travel to Tuscaloosa, Ala., to compete in the SEC Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Sam Bailey Stadium.