TUCSON, Ariz. – The LSU Lady Tigers are the NCAA’s new No. 1-ranked team in the women’s 4×100-meter relay for the 2015 season after slashing their seasonal best by more than one full second in a record-breaking victory Saturday at the 2015 Jim Click Shootout held at Roy P. Drachman Stadium on the campus of the University of Arizona.
After lining up with a previous seasonal best of 44.46 set in the sprint relay final at the 88th Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays two weeks ago, the Lady Tigers lit up the Drachman Stadium track and ascended to the top of the NCAA rankings with their winning run of 43.23 seconds to set a new facility record at the home of the Wildcats.
Their performance sparked an outstanding afternoon of competition for the LSU Track & Field teams as they combined for one school record, 18 personal bests and 10 NCAA Top 10s for the 2015 season.
The Lady Tigers were not alone as the Tigers doubled down by sprinting to victory in the men’s 4×100-meter relay in 38.95 while setting their own Roy P. Drachman Stadium record in winning the men’s sprint relay title.
While making her outdoor season debut in the women’s shot put, reigning NCAA Outdoor silver medalist Tori Bliss broke her own outdoor school record in the event when she unleashed a season-opening throw of 57 feet, 5 ½ inches to crack the NCAA rankings in the No. 2 position for 2015 to kick start her national title challenge in her final season with the Lady Tigers.
Sophomore Jada Martin sprinted to victory in the women’s 200-meter dash with a lifetime personal record of 23.00 for the fifth-fastest time nationally in 2015, while junior Chanice Chase clocked the NCAA’s No. 6 time at 57.13 in the 400-meter hurdles before anchoring the Lady Tigers to the NCAA’s No. 7 time with a seasonal best of 3 minutes, 32.97 seconds in a pair of runner-up event finishes on the afternoon.
Junior Darrell Bush spearheaded the Tigers’ charge at this year’s Jim Click Shootout, taking the tape in the men’s 400-meter dash with the second-fastest time in the NCAA this season at 45.49 for the fastest race for his collegiate career. He was also a member of LSU’s winning 4×400-meter relay team that turned in the sixth-fastest time in the collegiate ranks at 3:06.18 in Saturday’s meet finale.
On a banner day for LSU’s 400-meter runners, senior Quincy Downing (45.75) followed Bush in third place and junior Cyril Grayson (46.23) trailed in fourth place with personal-best times of their own to crack the Top 10 nationally as the NCAA’s No. 3-ranked and No. 5-ranked quartermilers, respectively, for the 2015 outdoor season.
Senior standout Aaron Ernest also sprinted into the NCAA’s Top 10 with his victory in the men’s 200-meter dash as he clocked an impressive 20.56 (-2.3) for the seventh-fastest time among collegians this spring.
On the strength of their performance, the Lady Tigers took home the women’s team title at the 2015 Jim Click Shootout as they piled up 169 points to outclass Southern California in second place with 144 points, Arizona in third place with 91 points, Purdue in fourth place with 85 points and Illinois in fifth place with 79 points. The Tigers tallied 160 points to finish runner-up to Illinois’ winning score of 181 points in the men’s team race, followed by Arizona in third place with 93 points, Southern California in fourth place with 80 points and Purdue in fifth place with 66 points.
“With it being our Spring Break week back home, we were able to spend much of our week here in Arizona preparing for this competition. With what we saw today, you have to say that our athletes approached it with the right mindset to improve as a team and take another step forward this season,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “I’m proud of the professionalism they showed coming here to compete at a very high level.”
The Tigers were the first to step onto the track as they lined up with a familiar lineup of senior Joshua Thompson, senior Vernon Norwood, sophomore Tremayne Acy and Ernest in the men’s 4×100-meter relay final.
While running out of lane No. 5, the Tigers battled the USC Trojans on their outside in lane No. 6 all the way to the finish line as they carried the stick around the track for their second-fastest time of the season at 38.95 to break the 16-year-old Drachman Stadium record of 38.97 previously set by Arizona State back in 2004. The Trojans trailed in second place in the race with a time of 39.09 for the silver medal.
Next it was the Lady Tigers’ turn to make a run at the record books as they lined up in lane No. 6 to the outside of the favored Women of Troy in lane No. 5 as USC entered the meet with the second-fastest relay in the NCAA with a top time of 43.41 this season. The Lady Tigers countered with the nation’s sixth-fastest time at 44.46 from their recent performance at the Texas Relays.
But it was LSU stealing the headlines on Saturday afternoon when Martin ran the third leg on a team that also featured sophomore Rushell Harvey, freshman Aleia Hobbs and freshman Mikiah Brisco what proved to be a dramatic turn of events to start the afternoon session. The Lady Tigers emerged as the NCAA leaders in the event as their winning rime of 43.23 also set a Drachman Stadium record on the afternoon while finishing at more than a half second ahead of USC’s 43.79 for the runner-up spot in the event.
By taking over the national lead on Saturday afternoon, the Lady Tigers (43.23) clocked their fastest time in the 4×100-meter relay in three years since the 2012 season when they ran 42.99 at the Texas Relays.
Not only were they instrumental in leading LSU’s 4×100-meter relay teams into the record books during the competition, but Acy, Ernest and Martin each turned in impressive performances in their individual events to help set the pace late in the afternoon. Acy sprinted to a wind-legal PR in a runner-up finish in the men’s 100-meter dash, while Ernest and Martin swept 200-meter titles with Top 10 times in the NCAA this season.
After setting his previous personal best with a wind-legal 10.39 in the qualifying round at the Texas Relays back on March 27, Acy crossed the finish line in second place Saturday with a new PR of 10.22 (+0.4) after USC’s Beejay Lee took the tape in 10.16 for the win. Ernest exacted LSU’s revenge on the Trojans in the men’s 200-meter final when he posted a 20.56 (-2.3) into a strong headwind to earn the title ahead of Andre De Grasse (20.70) and Just’N Thymes (20.73) from USC. Tiger teammate Vernon Norwood followed in fourth place with a wind-legal PR of 20.84.
Martin’s victory in the women’s 200-meter dash proved just as comfortable as she crossed the finish line with a wind-legal personal best of 23.00 (+0.0) for the win ahead of Purdue’s Carmiesha Cox (23.33) well back in second place and USC’s Ky Westbrook (23.55) in third place overall. Martin eclipsed her previous PR of 23.02 set as a freshman with the Lady Tigers in 2014.
But that wasn’t the end for Martin as she later lined up in her third race of the day as the second leg of LSU’s 4×400-meter relay team that stormed to a seasonal best for second place in the women’s final.
With Martin teaming with freshman Daeshon Gordon on the first leg, sophomore Travia Jones on the third leg and senior Chanice Chase on the anchor leg, the Lady Tigers cracked the Top 10 of the national rankings on the season as their time of 3:32.97 is the seventh-fastest nationally this season, finishing just one tenth of a second off USC’s winning time of 3:32.87 in the final women’s event of the meet.
It was a performance that earned Martin the title of Female Athlete of the Meet at this year’s Jim Click Shootout as she was honored in a vote of the coaching staffs of the five programs competing in the meet.
Like Martin, Chase turned in a Top 10 time nationally in her specialty event when she finished runner-up to Trojan standout Jaide Stepter (56.14) in the final of the women’s 400-meter hurdles with a seasonal-best race of 57.13 for the No. 6-ranked time among collegians this spring. Chase slashed nearly one second off of her previous seasonal best of 58.00 in the event that she set in the final at the Texas Relays back on March 27.
Martin was not the only LSU standout named Athlete of the Meet at the 2015 Jim Click Shootout as Tiger junior Darrell Bush picked up the honor on the men’s side on the strength of his victory in the men’s 400 meters with a personal best and running the second leg on the Tigers’ 4×400-meter relay team that picked up a comfortable win with a seasonal best in the meet’s final event.
While making his outdoor season debut in the 400-meter dash with a lifetime personal best of 46.15 to his credit, Bush showed the form of a seasoned All-American when he raced to the finish line in a new lifetime PR of 45.49 for the win by more than two tenths of a second over Illinois’ DJ Zahn (45.70). With a season-opening 45.49, Bush soared into the No. 2 spot in the national rankings through four weeks for this outdoor season, and also cracked LSU’s all-time Top 10 as the ninth-fastest Tiger in the program’s history.
It was a race that saw three Tigers crack the Top 5 of the national rankings in the event as Downing (45.75) followed in third place and Grayson (46.23) crossed the finish line in fourth place with new personal bests.
The Tiger trio later teamed with junior teammate Fitzroy Dunkley in winning the men’s 4×400-meter relay with a seasonal-best time of 3:06.18 in the final event of the meet. Running with an order of Downing, Bush, Dunkley and Grayson, the Tigers were more than one second faster than the foursome from second-place Illinois (3:07.31) with the nation’s sixth-fastest time on the year.
While the LSU Track & Field teams showed their strength on the track, it was Bliss providing the power in the field events with an impressive season-opening performance in the women’s shot put as she clinched a win with a series-best throw of 57-5 ½ on her sixth and final attempt to eclipse her own school record of 57-4 ¼ that she set in a silver-medal-winning runner-up finish at the NCAA Championships last spring.
Bliss picked up right where she left off indoors when she threw a lifetime personal best of 60-7 ¼ to establish LSU’s indoor school record while winning her second-straight NCAA silver medal in the shot put.
Sophomore Morgan Schuetz led a host of other LSU Track & Field stars taking home event titles on Saturday afternoon as she was crowned the women’s 800-meter champion when she raced to a new outdoor best of 2:06.86. She was also the third-place finisher in the women’s 1,500 meters, clocking another personal best of 4:26.43 to become the ninth-fastest Lady Tiger in the event in program history.
Adding to LSU’s trophy haul as event winners in their own right were seniors Rodney Brown (200-6) in the men’s discus throw and Andreas Duplantis (16-8 ¾) in the men’s pole vault, junior Mayme Cook (160-0) for the women’s javelin throw, and sophomores Jordan Moore (14.04) in the men’s 110 hurdles and Jonathan Pitt (50-4 ½) with a wind-legal personal best in the men’s triple jump.
Other Tigers and Lady Tigers posting personal bests at the Jim Click Shootout were senior Annie Simoneaux (158-6) in the women’s javelin; juniors Shanice Holmes (38-0 ¼) in the women’s triple jump and Terry Hughes (207-4) in the men’s javelin; freshmen Hannah Deworth (2:11.99) in the women’s 800 meters, Daeshon Gordon (13.26) in the women’s 100 hurdles, Kymber Payne (59.40) in the women’s 400 hurdles, Marvalyn Vernon (122-7) in the women’s discus and Jack Wilkes (1:50.80) in the men’s 800 meters.
With a successful Spring Break week at the Jim Click Shootout now in the books, the Tigers and Lady Tigers will return home next weekend to play host to their second home meet of the 2015 outdoor season with their LSU Alumni Gold meet scheduled to be held next Saturday, April 18, at LSU’s Bernie Moore Track Stadium in Baton Rouge.