AUSTIN, Texas ? Despite temperatures dipping into the 30s and a steady rain falling on the track throughout the afternoon, the LSU track and field teams wrapped up the final day of the 80th Texas Relays at Mike A. Myers Stadium by winning a combined six event titles.
“The teams competed well today despite everything that was going on around them,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “If we run into adverse conditions like these, we can always look back and draw from our experience here at the Texas Relays this weekend.”
Sophomore hurdles standout Nickiesha Wilson kicked things off by becoming the first Lady Tiger to win the individual title in the 400-meter hurdles since former LSU All-American and current assistant coach Debbie Parris-Thymes did so in 1993.
Wilson, who qualified for Saturday’s final with the meet’s top preliminary time and a new personal best of 56.67 seconds on Friday, held off a charging Ajoke Odumosu of South Alabama to take top honors with a time of 57.12 on a rain-soaked track.
Senior All-American Isa Phillips followed just a few minutes later by winning his first career title in the 400-meter hurdles at the Texas Relays as he clocked a 50.71 in his final heat. Phillips is the fifth Tiger to win the men’s 400-meter hurdles title in the university division and the first since Lueroy Colquhoun accomplished the feat in 2002.
Phillips beat Justin Gaymon of Georgia (50.85) to the finish line as the Bulldog standout entered the weekend with the nation’s top time in the event at 49.75 set on March 31 at the Yellow Jacket Invitational hosted by Georgia Tech.
“It was great to see Nickiesha and Isa run as well as they did today,” Shaver said. “It’s a great accomplishment for them to be champions at a meet like the Texas Relays. It’s even more impressive that they ran times in the final with little drop off in what they did in the prelims. That says a lot about the way they competed despite the weather.”
Junior Jessica Ohanaja was the third and final LSU athlete of the day to win an individual title as she took top honors in the women’s 100 hurdles with a wind-legal time of 13.34 in the finals. Fellow junior Angel Boyd, who won the high school girl’s Division II title at the Texas Relays in 2003, finished sixth with a time of 13.64.
Ohanaja, who was the national runner-up in the 60-meter hurdles during the indoor season, continues a rich tradition of Lady Tiger hurdlers as she becomes the eighth to win the event at the Texas Relays and the first since former LSU national champion Lolo Jones in 2003.
The men’s squad braved the harsh conditions to win three relay titles on the final day of one of the nation’s premier collegiate outdoor meets, including titles in the 4×100 and 4×200-meter relays, as well as the C. Price, Jr., University Men’s 4×400-meter relay title to close out the meet.
The 800-meter relay squad of senior Siraj Williams, senior Austin Benton, freshman Armanti Hayes and senior Melville Rogers combined to carry the stick around the track in a time of 1 minute, 26.06 seconds to take top honors by a half-second over Mississippi State, which clocked a time of 1:25.56 in the finals.
The men’s 400-meter relay foursome of sophomore Jeremy Hicks, freshman Will Coppage, senior Marvin Stevenson and junior Richard Thompson successfully defended their title in the event with a time of 40.57. This marks the fourth year in a row that the Tigers have won the men’s 4×100-meter relay title, and it is their seventh title in the event all-time.
Hicks replaced sophomore Trindon Holliday on the leadoff leg in Saturday’s final as Shaver decided to rest the standout after leading the Tigers to the third-fastest time during the prelims with a 40.40 on Friday. Holliday is slowly working his way into the mix after missing the indoor season while participating in sprint drills with the LSU football team.
“The men did an excellent job of getting the stick around the track,” Shaver said. “There weren’t any flaws in what they did and how they executed the race. They’re really starting to gain a lot of confidence in one another, and I’m comfortable with putting any of the five guys on the track.”
The Tigers also closed out the meet approximately an hour ahead of schedule as Williams, Phillips, Hayes and Rogers combined to win the prestigious Cleburne Price, Jr., Men’s 4×400-Meter Relay in a time of 3:09.93.
This marks the fifth time in team history that the Tigers have won the meet’s most prestigious relay title as they successfully defended their championship from a year ago.
“The guys really wanted to line up and run today, and they took a lot of pride in themselves and this program and competed very well,” Shaver said. “They faced some really adverse conditions and defended their titles in both the 4×100 and 4×400. I can’t say enough about how well they competed as a team today.”
The women also enjoyed some success in the relay events as they finished runner-up in the 400-meter relay after clocking a time of 44.62 in the finals. Chauntae Bayne of Texas held off a hard-charging Lady Tiger in Kelly Baptiste to win the event title for the Longhorns by a split-second with a time of 44.49.
The Lady Tigers’ distance medley relay team of Lindsay Day, Carliesa Meakes, Tanya Osbourne and Katie Dawson also combined for a Top 10 time in school history as they finished the race in eighth place with a time of 12:11.50 to move into the No. 9 spot on the school’s all-time list.
A number of events in the high school, university and invitational sections were cancelled during the afternoon session as the conditions on the track worsened. Among those were the university finals in the men’s and women’s 100-meter dashes and the women’s 4×400-meter relay in which the Tigers and Lady Tigers were scheduled to compete.
After returning to Baton Rouge on Sunday, the Tigers and Lady Tigers will head back on the road next weekend as they travel to Tempe, Ariz., to compete in the Sun Angel Invitational on April 13 at Sun Angel Stadium, Joe Selleh Track. They will then play host to the LSU Alumni Gold at the Bernie Moore Track Stadium on April 21.