SAO PAULO, Brazil — LSU freshman LaTavia Thomas followed her gold-medal winning performance in the 800 meters Saturday by winning a second gold medal for the United States in the 4×400-meter relay Sunday at the 2007 Pan American Junior Championships.
Thomas, who ran the second leg of the relay, teamed with American standouts Brandi Cross, Brehanna Jacobs and Jessica Beard to clock the fourth-fastest junior time in world history in the 1,600-meter relay at 3 minutes, 29.67 seconds.
The foursome finished nearly six full seconds ahead of the silver medalists from Trinidad and Tobago at 3:35.28, while fellow LSU freshman Samantha Henry helped lead her native Jamaica to a bronze medal by running the third leg on a foursome that crossed the finish line in 3:35.36.
Henry also won a bronze medal in the 200-meter dash earlier in the afternoon, clocking a time of 23.26 seconds in the final after automatically qualifying with a 23.53 to win her semifinal heat. The Kingston native just missed earning a medal in the 100-meter dash on Friday after crossing the finish line in fifth place with a time of 11.52.
In addition, LSU signee Chris Ward of Kissimmee, Fla., added a silver medal to his resume on Sunday as he helped lead the United States to a second-place finish in the men’s 4×400-meter relay. Like Thomas, Ward ran the second leg on the relay that crossed the finish line in 3:06.15.
The Tigers and Lady Tigers were well-represented at this year’s Pan Am Junior Championships as LSU athletes won a total of seven medals for their respective countries. In addition to Sunday’s action, Thomas struck gold in the 800, incoming freshman Kenyanna Wilson won gold in the 4×100-meter relay and freshman Jamaal James took silver in the 800 on Saturday.