BATON ROUGE – Saturday’s Bayou Bengal Invitational gave many LSU Track & Field athletes their first opportunity to compete during the 2016 indoor season as the Tigers and Lady Tigers combined for 16 event wins and 25 indoor personal bests en route to a sweep of the team titles in the competition held at the Carl Maddox Field House.
LSU’s sprinters and hurdlers stole the show in their season debut on Saturday afternoon while accounting for five wins and three personal bests on their own to headline an exciting four-team competition.
After sitting out the team’s season opener at the Purple Tiger Invitational last weekend, junior Tremayne Acy and freshman Kortnei Johnson were crowned champions of the 60-meter dash in impressive fashion after junior Jordan Moore and sophomore Mikiah Brisco swept titles in the 60-meter hurdles in their first finals of 2016. Junior Travia Jones added a 200-meter title with a personal best of her own.
Freshman Hollie Parker and junior Morgan Schuetz also cracked LSU’s Top 10 performance list with their efforts in winning the mile and 3,000 meters, respectively, to lead the charge on the track on Saturday.
The Tigers topped the charts on the men’s side with 141 points scored in 15 events contested on the afternoon, followed by Southeastern Louisiana in second place with 114 points, Northwestern State in third place at 106 points and Southern rounding out the field in fourth place with 78 points scored during the meet.
The Lady Tigers locked up the women’s team title before their relay teams even stepped onto the track while finishing the day with 172.5 points for their efforts. Northwestern State finished runner-up for the women with 108.5 points, followed by Southeastern Louisiana in third place overall with 93 points and Southern again rounding out the field in fourth place with 74 points.
“This was really the first opportunity we had to see where a lot of our athletes are at this early stage of the season, and I was really impressed with what I saw from them today,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “In a meet like this, it was great to see so many of our athletes lay down a marker for themselves and our team that I hope will be a springboard for great success over the course of the season.”
A native of Italy, Texas, and member of LSU’s heralded 2015 recruiting class, Johnson enjoyed a debut to remember with a personal-best and event-winning performance in her first 60-meter dash as a Lady Tiger.
After storming to the final with a heat-winning and personal-best time of 7.37 for the fastest performance in the qualifying round, Johnson lined up against seven of her teammates in the eight-person final and earned the win in 7.40 as she edged fellow freshman Rachel Misher at the line. Misher finished runner-up in 7.46 in her first collegiate final after running a personal best of her own at 7.43 in qualifying.
“I think I did pretty well for a freshman,” Johnson said following her race. “Coming out here and to be able to run those kinds of times in my first meet feels pretty good. I’ve been working hard to get here, and today is just the beginning. To come here to LSU, train like we have to get ready for the season and to drop my times like that, it really shows me that the hard work is paying off already.”
Seven of the eight finalists in the women’s 60-meter dash wore purple and gold as junior Jada Martin placed third with a time of 7.47, senior Kiersten Duncan followed in fourth with a time of 7.52, junior Rushell Harvey crossed in fifth with a time of 7.54, junior Nataliyah Friar was sixth with a time of 7.56 and freshman Shayna Yon finished eighth with a time of 7.68.
“With all of us getting to run against each other, I think we make each other even better,” Johnson said. “We have some talented sprinters. It was great for us all to be in one heat and see what we could do.”
Brisco kicked off her collegiate career a year ago with an All-American campaign in the 60-meter dash, but showed Saturday that she might be a threat in the 60-meter hurdles as she followed a personal best of 8.35 for the top time in qualifying with a gold-medal-winning run of 8.38 in the final. She is set to compete in both events in her sophomore season as she owns a 60-meter PR of 7.23 set her freshman season.
The Lady Tigers actually claimed the top four spots in the final of the 60-meter hurdles as Brisco was trailed across the finish line by senior All-American Chanice Chase in second place with a time of 8.44 and sophomore Danielle Phillips in third place and sophomore Kymber Payne in fourth place with matching times of 8.58. Phillips clocked a PR of 8.56 in qualifying, while Payne turned in her personal best of 8.58 in the hurdle final.
Phillips actually set personal bests in two events during the competition as she followed her third-place finish in the 60 hurdles with a victory in the women’s long jump with her winning mark of 19 feet, 4 ¾ inches.
In the men’s 60-meter hurdles, Moore nearly matched his seasonal best from his sophomore season a year ago in his very first race of 2016 when he clocked 7.82 in his preliminary heat. He then edged former Tiger All-American Joshua Thompson by one one-hundredth of a second at the finish line in the final with a winning 7.83 to get his junior season off to a flying start.
Also off to a fast start in 2016 were Acy and junior teammate Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake as they turned in a 1-2 finish in the final of the men’s 60-meter dash. Acy followed his time of 6.78 in qualifying with a winning 6.69 in the final to take the title ahead of Mitchell-Blake, who posted back-to-back personal bests of 6.75 in the prelims and 6.72 in the final on Saturday afternoon.
LSU’s athletes really made their mark on the school record books in the distance events as Parker and Schuetz led the way with Top 10 performances in school history in a sweep of the women’s mile and 3k.
Parker was the first to step onto the track following the afternoon’s preliminary races as she became the 10th-fastest miler in program history when she crossed the finish line in 4 minutes, 52.58 seconds to win the title ahead of junior teammate Danielle Avery in second place at 5:15.11. Parker’s time of 4:52.58 in her first collegiate mile even converted to a quicker 4:49.71 for a banked track used in NCAA qualifying.
Schuetz then came within touching distance of LSU’s indoor school record in the 3,000 meters as she finished nearly 44 seconds ahead of her nearest competitor with an indoor PR of 9:41.86 to move into the No. 3 spot on LSU’s all-time indoor performance list in the event. Redshirt freshman teammate Rebecca Little finished runner-up to Schuetz with an indoor best of her own at 10:25.08, while sophomore Jenna Walker took fourth with her PR time of 10:36.39 and freshman Monica Guillot followed in fifth with a best of her own at 10:41.54.
Among the Tigers and Lady Tigers who also won event titles during Saturday’s meet with personal-best performances were junior Blair Henderson with a time of 4:13.35 in the men’s mile, junior Travia Jones with a run of 24.85 in the women’s 200 meters, sophomore Da’Quan Bellard with a jump of 23-8 ¾ in the men’s long jump.
LSU’s other event champions included senior Shanice Hall with a season-opening clearance of 5-8 in the women’s high jump and freshman Dajour Braxton with a run of 8:42.90 in the men’s 3,000 meters.
Other PR performances were turned in by the likes of junior Cameron Robichaux (16-10) and freshman Chadd Burns (16-6) in the pole vault, junior Jonathan Pitt (50-4 ¾) in the triple jump, sophomore Hannah Deworth (2:14.74) and freshman Erika Lewis (2:18.61) in the 800 meters, freshman Cayla Nikodemus in both the long jump (16-7 ¼) and shot put (31-5 ¼) and freshman Madison Danna (41-7 ¼) in the weight throw.
LSU’s athletes even wrapped up the meet with a sweep of relay titles in both the 4×400-meter and distance medley relays as the Tigers posted winning times of 3:13.58 and 11:00.81 and the Lady Tigers clocked 3:46.30 and 12:31.80, respectively, between the two events. That sealed the team titles and closed out a meet in which they combined for 16 event wins and 25 indoor PRs on the day.
“I’m just really pleased with the competitive spirit showed by our athletes today across the board,” Shaver said. “When you have so many athletes setting personal bests so early in the season, many in their first meet of the season, it says a lot about their mindset coming in and wanting to go out and compete right from the start. That’s a good sign for us going forward.”
The Tigers and Lady Tigers will be on the road for the first time during the 2016 season next weekend as they make their first of two trips to the Birmingham Crossplex in Birmingham, Alabama, to compete for two days at the Conference Clash Power Five Invitational running Jan. 22-23. The Birmingham Crossplex will also play host to the 2016 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships from March 11-12.