PHILADELPHIA — The LSU track and field teams seem to make history each year they make the trip to Franklin Field and the annual Penn Relays carnival, and this year was no exception as LSU wrapped up the weekend with a team record five championship victories in individual events.
Sophomore Walter Henning was the first of three winners for LSU on the final day of the meet as he dominated the men’s hammer throw, winning with a mark of 225 feet, 6 inches on Saturday.
Senior Trindon Holliday and junior Samantha Henry followed that performance by sweeping men’s and women’s championship finals of the 100-meter dash with a crowd of 47,904 providing an international flair to the finale of the world’s oldest relay carnival. Holliday cruised to a win in 10.16 seconds, while Henry took the women’s title with a time of 11.22.
This comes on the heels of freshman Rachel Laurent’s victory in the women’s championship pole vault on Thursday and senior Jeremy Hicks’ win in the men’s championship long jump on Friday.
In fact, Laurent was named the Women’s College Athlete of the Meet for Individual Events with her record-breaking performance as she set a Penn Relays meet record of 13-10 ? to win the pole vault title. Hicks was just as impressive as he won the long jump with a mark of 26-3 on his final attempt to win the award for the Men’s College Athlete of the Meet for Individual Events.
A sweep of the Men’s and Women’s College Athlete of the Meet awards for Individual Events is something that only one other team has accomplished as Texas did so back in 1998.
Not only that, but LSU will carry one Championship of America relay title back home to Baton Rouge as the Lady Tigers tied a meet record with their third-straight victory in the sprint medley relay on Friday night. They also tied the all-time record with their fifth Penn Relays crown in the event.
LSU has certainly made its mark on the Penn Relays over the years as the Tigers and Lady Tigers leave Philadelphia this year with 58 Championship of America relay titles and 54 individual titles in championship events all-time.
“I’m very pleased with our athletes for the way they came out and competed this weekend to have another great experience at the Penn Relays,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “We always seem to add a little something each year we come here. I can’t think of a better way for us to head into the postseason with a performance like this at a meet like the Penn Relays.
“I’m also very proud of both Jeremy and Rachel for their accomplishments this weekend. Both of their awards were very well-deserved and just shows what kind of competitors they really are. We will look for more of that from them as we head into the championship season.”
By winning five individual event titles on the weekend, LSU breaks the team record of four set by the Tigers and Lady Tigers in 1991, 2002 and 2008.
Henning is the second LSU Tiger in a row to be crowned champion of the hammer throw at Penn, as senior Rabun Fox accomplished the feat a year ago. Henning finished nearly 15 feet in front of his nearest competitor as Manhattan’s Seid Mujanovic finished runner-up with a throw of 210-11. Prior to 2008, no LSU athlete had ever won the hammer throw crown in the previous 113 years of competition at the Penn Relays.
Holliday made a bit of history of his own Saturday by becoming LSU’s first ever champion in the 100-meter dash on the men’s side. The Tiger speedster dominated the race from the gun as he has done all season long, winning the championship over Florida’s Terrell Wilks (10.39).
Holliday remains the NCAA leader in the 100-meter dash this season as his seasonal-best time of 10.12 set in his season opener at the Texas Relays on April 4 tops the list.
While Holliday became the first Tiger to win the 100 meters at the Penn Relays, Henry joined an impressive list of Lady Tigers to be crowned champion in the event when she edged G.C. Foster’s Shillionie Calvert (11.27) at the finish line. Henry is the first Lady Tiger to win the 100 meters at the Penn Relays since Kelly Baptiste in 2006, while she is the 12th winner all-time.
Junior Josh Dominguez also enjoyed a tremendous individual performance on Saturday by setting a new seasonal-best mark of 17-0 ? in the pole vault and improving his NCAA regional qualifier.
“This is a meet where we usually make our mark in the relays, but our athletes competed well this entire weekend to come away with some big performances individually,” Shaver said. “That’ll be a key for us as we open up the championship season in a few weeks. I also thought we got a lot of things done in the relays, despite coming away with the one win in the women’s sprint medley.”
In all, the LSU men and women competed in five Championship of America relay finals Saturday as they were led by a trio of third-place finishes on the afternoon.
The Tigers were the first to step onto the track for the final of the 4×100-meter relay and posted a seasonal-best time of 38.89 to place third overall. The foursome of Hicks, Will Coppage, Gabriel Mvumvure and Holliday combined to run the fastest time by an LSU sprint relay team at the Penn Relays as the Tigers saw their streak of four-straight wins in the event come to an end.
The Lady Tigers earned a pair of third-place finishes of their own in the 4×200 and 4×400 relays in their only relay finals of the afternoon. The LSU women placed third in the 4×200 relay with a time of 1:32.03 before they took third in the 4×400 relay with an impressive time of 3:33.96.
The Tigers improved their preliminary time in the 4×400-meter relay with a 3:06.04 clocking and a sixth-place finish, while the men also ran in the final of the 4×800 in which they placed 12th.
With the regular season now in the rearview mirror, the Tigers and Lady Tigers will kick off the postseason in three weeks as they travel to Gainesville, Fla., to compete in the 2009 SEC Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Pressly Stadium on the campus of the University of Florida. It is set to run for three days from May 15-17.