ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The future of the LSU track and field program was certainly on display in Albuquerque, N.M., this past weekend as many of the nation’s premier prep athletes opened their summer seasons at the 36th-annual Great Southwest Track & Field Classic at the University of New Mexico.
In the wake of their performance at the Missouri Class 4A Outdoor State Championships the week before, future Lady Tigers Samantha Levin, Montenae Roye-Speight and Kendra White shattered the meet record at the Great Southwest Classic with their dominating victory in the 4×400-meter relay.
With Levin opening on the first leg, White running the third leg and Roye-Speight running the anchor leg, the team from Missouri took down the 4-year-old meet record with a winning time of 3 minutes, 37.65 seconds. The previous meet record of 3:41.20 was set by a foursome from Utah four seasons ago in 2007.
Levin added a victory in the 800-meter run after clocking 2:10.62 to finish ahead of Auburn-bound recruit Samantha Berggren (2:10.96). Levin was crowned the Missouri Class 4A state champion in the 800-meter run for the third-straight season on May 28 with a personal best of 2:06.74 that ranks No. 4 in the country among all classifications and No. 1 nationwide among members of the Class of 2011.
Roye-Speight and White also enjoyed outstanding performances in the 400-meter dash after Roye-Speight took second place with a time of 53.85 seconds and White followed in third place with a time of 54.64. Texas native Courtney Okolo won the event crown ahead of Roye-Speight with a time of 53.68.
Like Levin, Roye-Speight set a PR of her own at the Missouri Class 4A state meet on May 28 in claiming her first career 400-meter title with a time of 53.84 that ranks No. 7 nationally for the 2011 season.
Perhaps the most impressive individual performance by an LSU track and field recruit through this year’s Great Southwest Classic came from Jeremy Tuttle of Buena High School in Sierra Vista, Ariz.
Tuttle set new personal records in three different throwing events over the weekend. Tuttle opened with a win in the hammer throw on Friday as he threw 198 feet, 6 inches to finish nearly 10 feet ahead of his nearest competitor. He also earned a pair of runner-up finishes at this year’s Great Southwest Classic with personal-best throws of 186-10 in the discus and 201-4 in the javelin during Saturday’s competition.
With his performance, Tuttle now ranks No. 6 in the prep ranks nationally in the hammer throw, while his performances in both the javelin and discus rank No. 17 nationwide among high school throwers.