DES MOINES, Iowa – Lady Tiger senior Cassandra Tate kicked off Friday’s finals by taking home the NCAA title in the 400-meter hurdles with a personal-best performance to lead a point barrage by the Lady Tigers as they totaled 40 points with their five scoring opportunities on the third day of the 2012 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships being held at Drake Stadium.
Senior Rebecca Alexander and juniors Kimberlyn Duncan and Charlene Lipsey also enjoyed silver-medal winning performances in their respective events, while senior Semoy Hackett captured a bronze medal for her effort as the Lady Tigers wrapped up the day in a 40-40 tie with the Oregon Ducks.
LSU and Oregon have emerged as the leading contenders for the women’s team title this weekend as they head into Saturday’s NCAA Championships finale at Drake Stadium.
The Tigers have also positioned themselves for a run at the men’s team championship on the strength of a bronze-medal finish by senior Kyron Blaise and the scoring efforts by senior Michael Lauro and freshman Aaron Ernest to highlight Friday’s final-round action at the NCAA Championships.
The Tigers have tallied 23 points in three days of competition as they will head into Saturday’s finale with the fourth spot in the team standings, trailing Florida (36), Virginia Tech (28) and Arizona (24).
“This group really understands what it means to make a run at the national championship,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “They had an attitude about it today to go out there and get it done. I am proud with the way both of our teams competed again today. They went out there and did exactly what they had to do to give themselves an opportunity to compete for the team title tomorrow.
“To have Cassandra Tate go out there in the very first event and win the (400) hurdles was huge. That just sparked our team today. The other girls in the warm up area getting ready to compete saw it and really got even more excited to go out there and run themselves. What a great way to start the day.”
Tate led off with a bang as she became the fourth Lady Tiger all-time to be crowned the NCAA champion in the 400-meter hurdles as she sprinted past UCLA’s Turquoise Thompson over the final hurdle and set a new personal record of 55.22 seconds to take the title. Thompson finished as the NCAA runner-up to Tate with a time of 55.28, while Tennessee’s Ellen Wortham took third place in 55.82.
While running in Lane 4, Tate ran strong down the backstretch and overtook Wortham in Lane 6 at the 250-meter mark before pulling even with Thompson to her outside in Lane 5 down the homestretch. That is when she outlasted Thompson over the final hurdle in a sprint to the finish line to take the victory.
Tate shattered her previous PR of 55.97 set in winning her semifinal heat on Wednesday to join such LSU greats as Schowonda Williams (1988), Debbie Parris (1993, 1994) and Nickiesha Wilson (2008) in taking home a total of five NCAA championships all-time in the 400-meter hurdles.
Coincidentally, Wilson was the last to win the event on the same signature blue oval at Drake Stadium as she helped lead the Lady Tigers to their last NCAA team title in 2008.
“We’re in it for the team title, and I’m glad I can contribute 10 points. We needed to make sure we stay in the hunt for the team title,” Tate said after her victory. “I had a little ground to make up. I wanted to make sure I kept my composure and stay focused on each hurdle. I did that without any problems.”
After Tate took down the 400 hurdles, Duncan and Hackett followed by piling up 14 points in the national final of the 100-meter dash as Duncan got out fast and raced to the finish line in 11.16 for second place to score eight points and Hackett clocked 11.33 for third place to score six points for the team. Oregon’s star sprinter English Gardner took the title in 11.10 in a race run into a headwind of 1.7 meters per second.
Lipsey continued the momentum for the Lady Tigers with a silver-medal winning run in the 800 meters as she slashed 1.2 seconds off of her previous PR with a time of 2 minutes, 1.40 seconds on Saturday.
Lipsey was content to sit behind BYU’s Nachelle Mackie and Tennessee’s Chanelle Price for much of the race, before overtaking Price (2:01.49) down the homestretch to earn second place. Mackie completed the NCAA sweep of 800-meter titles in 2012 by running 2:01.06 ahead of Lipsey’s 2:01.40.
Lipsey, who improved upon her fourth-place finish in her first finals appearance at the NCAA meet a year ago, moved into a tie with LaTavia Thomas for the No. 2 spot on LSU’s all-time list in the event.
“It feels good. I wish I could have gotten first, but it happens,” Lipsey said. “I’m really happy with my PR and scoring those points for my team. They went out faster than what I expected them to, so I was there in about fourth or fifth place through the first lap before I could start making my move. I had a lot of work to do to put myself back in the race. I won’t be satisfied until we get No. 1, but it’ll happen.”
Alexander then wrapped up the scoring for the Lady Tigers on Saturday by claiming her first All-America honor in the 400-meter dash while running a brilliant race from Lane 7 to take second place overall with a personal-best time of 51.20 for the No. 4-ranked performance in school history.
Alexander and Illinois freshman Ashley Spencer separated themselves from the pack down the final home straightaway in a battle for the national title. Spencer pulled away over the final 30 meters and crossed the finish line with a winning time of 50.95, followed by Alexander in second place in 51.20.
With her performance, Alexander became the first Lady Tiger to earn All-America accolades as a national scorer in the 400-meter dash since Deonna Lawrence in 2006.
“My main goal was to just score as many points as possible for my team,” Alexander said as she met with the media following her race. “In the race, the whole goal was to just position myself on the backstretch. That way, I could build into it coming off the curve and really put myself in a position to go when I had to go. I just felt comfortable. I went with her (Ashley Spencer) and finished second.”
The Tigers were led in Friday’s competition by the senior duo of Blaise and Lauro as they teamed up for a total of 11 points in the field events as Blaise was crowned the NCAA bronze medalist in the triple jump and Lauro earned his best career finish of fourth place in the final of the men’s hammer throw.
Blaise’s performance was key in the Tigers improving their chances to contend for the men’s team title on Saturday as he leaped into third place in the final standings with a series-best mark of 54 feet, 1 ¾ inches on his sixth and final jump of the competition. After qualifying for the final with a mark of 52-8 ¾ to earn sixth place in the semifinal round, Blaise scored six points after moving to third on his final jump.
Blaise trailed only the winning wind-aided mark of 55-6 ¼ by Florida’s Omar Craddock and silver-medal winning leap of 54-6 by New Mexico’s Floyd Ross in the final standings.
Lauro was actually LSU’s first scorer of the afternoon as he threw in the second flight of the hammer with an eye on his third career All-America honor. Lauro moved into fourth place in the hammer standing after throwing 211-10 on his first throw and never looked back as he improved to 216-8 on his second throw to lock up fourth place for his best career finish in his final NCAA Championships appearance.
With Lauro’s fourth-place finish, the Tigers have featured an NCAA scorer in the hammer throw for four-straight seasons as former Tiger Walter Henning was a three-time All-American from 2009-11, and Lauro finished in sixth place overall as an NCAA scorer at Drake Stadium a year ago.
Ernest added one point to the men’s team total with an eighth-place finish in his first career appearance in the 100-meter final as he ran 10.45 in a race run into a strong headwind of 2.3 meters per second.
“It’s one of those things where you really feel good about what we’ve done to this point. We’ve just given ourselves the best opportunity we can have to make a run at the team title tomorrow with both genders,” Shaver said. “Ever since we left here (Drake Stadium) last year, the focus of our athletes has been coming back here and having that opportunity to make a run at it tomorrow.”
Saturday’s finale at the 2012 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships is slated to start at 10 a.m. CT, while the Tigers and Lady Tigers will compete for the first time at 11:03 a.m. with the start of the 4×100-meter relays. They will also feature entries in the 200 meters, sprint hurdles and 4×400 relay on the final day as they continue their chase for a national championship this weekend.
ESPNU will air a live two-hour broadcast of Saturday’s finale from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. CDT as LSU fans will watch the Tigers and Lady Tigers in their hunt for a team title to wrap up the 2012 season.