FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The LSU Track & Field teams rewrote the school record book in Friday’s opener at the Razorback Team Invitational as the Lady Tigers smashed their own school record in the women’s distance medley relay and Tigers posted four all-time top-10 performances to highlight the action at the Randal Tyson Track Center.
The Lady Tigers stole the headlines in the final event on the track in the evening session when freshman Hollie Parker, sophomore Keterra Harris, sophomore Hannah Deworth and junior Morgan Schuetz became the fastest DMR in school history and the fifth-fastest relay team nationally for the 2016 season.
After Parker opened with a strong 1,200-meter leg of 3 minutes, 28.31 seconds, Harris ripped off a 55.60-second split on the 400-meter leg before Deworth carried the stick for 2:08.52 over 800 meters.
One of the fastest milers in school history, Schuetz moved the Lady Tigers from sixth place into fourth place at the finish line as she clocked 4:44.51 on the anchor leg for a school-record time of 11:16.92 in the race. She crossed the finish line nearly two seconds faster than the previous school record of 11:18.75 set four years ago during the 2012 indoor season.
Oklahoma State won the women’s DMR title by more than two seconds with the NCAA’s fastest time this season at 11:01.15, followed by Oregon (11:03.61) in second place and Arkansas (11:08.01) in third place.
“It’s impressive anytime you make history and set a school record at a program like LSU,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “To become the fastest DMR we’ve ever had is a special moment for each of those women who lined up today. We lined up a young team tonight, but they ran very well and competed until the end. We know they can run even faster in the coming weeks.”
The Tigers followed by nearly setting a school record on their own in the men’s distance medley relay as their team of sophomore Jack Wilkes (2:57.32), junior Matthew Rhorer (49.77), junior Blaire Henderson (1:48.98) and freshman Dajour Braxton (4:06.51) ran the third-fastest DMR in team history at 9:42.56 for seventh place overall in the men’s final.
The Oregon Ducks finished nearly five seconds ahead of their nearest competitor with a winning run of 9:30.95, while Oklahoma State scored the silver medal with a time of 9:35.35 and Texas A&M took home a bronze medal with a time of 9:35.62. The Tigers also trailed Arkansas (9:36.77), Oklahoma (9:37.28) and UCLA (9:38.77) across the finish line in the men’s relay final.
The Tigers certainly saved their best for last in the men’s weight throw competition as seniors David Collins and Patrick Geers and junior Johnnie Jackson each posted personal bests on their sixth and final throws in the event to highlight Friday’s field events on the opening day of the Razorback Team Invitational.
After Geers locked up fifth place with a career-best throw of 65 feet, 6 ¼ inches in the final round of throws, Jackson moved ahead of his teammate into second place with a throw of 67-11 ¾ while Collins followed with a personal best of 67-8 ¼ for third place as they put the Tigers on the scoreboard for the first time in the scored competition.
Oregon’s Greg Skipper took home the men’s weight throw title by more than four feet over Jackson in the runner-up position with his winning mark of 72-2 ¼ recorded in the fourth round of throws.
Jackson took another step toward NCAA Championship qualification as he moved one spot up the national rankings into the No. 18 position while holding onto the No. 5 spot on LSU’s all-time indoor performance list in the event with his series-best of 67-11 ¾. Collins (67-8 ¼) vaulted three places into the No. 6 spot, while Geers (65-6 ¼) cracked LSU’s all-time Top 10 list for the first time at No. 10 in school history.
“You know those guys were locked in and competing well when they each threw a PR one after another in that final round,” Shaver said. “It shows each of those guys came in with the right mindset to go out there and get something done today. We need to be taking advantage of every opportunity to compete, and they did a great job of that today.”
Cracking the Top 10 of the NCAA rankings with her performance on Friday night was junior All-American Nataliyah Friar, who soared to a seasonal best of 20-9 in the fifth round of jumps to earn a sixth-place finish in an exciting women’s long jump competition. Friar was crowned the NCAA Indoor Bronze Medalist while earning her first career All-America honor in her last appearance at the Randal Tyson Track Center.
It was a long jump competition that produced three 21-foot performances with Georgia’s Chanice Porter taking the title at 21-7 ¼, Iowa State’s Kate Hall following in second place at 21-5 ½ and Georgia’s Keturah Orji in third place in the final with a best of 21-4 ¼. Friar also followed Florida’s Yanis David (20-11 ¾) and Florida State’s Der’Renae Freeman (20-11 ¼).
Friar, who jumped 20-5 in her season debut in Birmingham a week ago, improved to 20-9 on Friday night to move up one spot into a tie for the No. 9 spot in the NCAA rankings for the 2016 indoor season.
In other field-event action, Lady Tiger senior Shanice Hall cleared a seasonal-best height of 5-9 ¼ to lock up third place overall in the women’s high jump and Tiger junior Cameron Robichaux went up and over the bar at 16-7 ¼ for seventh place in the men’s pole vault competition. The Tigers ended the day in fourth place in the men’s team standings with 22 points, while the Lady Tigers scored 14 points for eight place overall.
Three Lady Tigers also sprinted to personal bests in the women’s 200-meter dash during Friday’s opener at the Razorback Team Invitational led by freshman Kortnei Johnson racing to an indoor best of 23.79 to finish as the top Lady Tiger in ninth place in the event. Junior Rushell Harvey also clocked an indoor PR of 24.02 for 15th place, while junior Travia Jones took 23rd with a time of 24.45.
Saturday’s finale at the Razorback Team Invitational gets underway for the Tigers and Lady Tigers at 11:45 a.m. CT with the first finals on the track followed by the first field events of the day at 2 p.m. SEC Network is set to broadcast live coverage of Saturday’s events at the Randal Tyson Track Center from 12:30-4:30 p.m. CT.