CORAL GABLES, Fla. – This week’s Spring Break trip to Miami proved fruitful for members of the LSU Track & Field program as senior Chanice Chase, junior Tinashe Mutanga and freshman Kortnei Johnson each turned in early-season NCAA-leading performances to highlight Friday’s action at the Hurricane Twilight held at Miami’s Cobb Stadium.
LSU’s athletes opened their outdoor season with 12 performances ranking among the NCAA’s Top 5 entering the weekend, while they also combined for 19 event wins and 22 personal bests during the meet.
They also swept the men’s and women’s team titles during the one-day twilight event at the University of Miami as the Tigers scored 152 points to finish well ahead of Miami in second place with 122 in the men’s team race and the Lady Tigers totaled 161.5 points to finish in front of Cincinnati in second place with 113 points in the women’s team competition.
Rounding out the men’s teams were Bethune-Cookman (84) in third place, Cincinnati (79) in fourth place, Florida International (76) in fifth place and Florida Atlantic (4) in sixth place. The women’s race also included the likes of Miami (102) in third place, Florida Atlantic (65) in fourth place, Bethune-Cookman (63.5) in fifth place and Florida International (59) in sixth place.
LSU’s 4×100-meter relay teams set the tone in the very first finals of the evening session and the teams never looked back as they proved too much for their competition throughout this year’s Hurricane Twilight.
After the Lady Tigers won the women’s sprint relay with the top time of the day at 44.72 seconds, the Tigers stepped onto the track for the men’s 4×100-meter relay final and raced to a season-opening time of 39.33 to beat Florida International (40.71) to the finish line for the win. Their team of junior Jordan Moore, freshman Jaron Flournoy, junior Tinashe Mutanga and junior Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake emerged as the second-fastest sprint relay in the NCAA through two weeks of the season.
Their victory proved to be a springboard for the rest of the meet as Moore and Mutanga both followed with individual wins to highlight their Spring Break trip to Miami. Mutanga sprinted to the victory in the 200-meter dash with a wind-legal personal best of 20.52 (+0.5) with the fastest time among collegians, while Moore won the 110-meter hurdles with a season-opening 13.68 (+0.0) to rank No. 2 nationally.
Mutanga led a Top 4 sweep by the Tigers in the men’s 200 meters as Flournoy clocked a wind-legal personal best of 20.69 for second place in his collegiate debut in the event and junior LaMar Bruton took third place by running a personal best of his own at 21.09 in the first heat. Junior Michael Cherry followed in fourth place with a time of 21.15.
Mitchell-Blake was impressive in his first collegiate 400-meter race when he placed second with the NCAA’s No. 4-ranked time at 46.55 to finish runner-up to Bethune-Cookman’s Jonathan Moore (46.48).
The Lady Tiger sprinters also wrote the headlines in the women’s team race with junior Rushell Harvey and freshman Kortnei Johnson setting the pace throughout the competition. Johnson raced to a wind-aided 11.27 (+2.5) to edge Harvey (11.28w) at the finish line and win her first collegiate 100-meter title as they posted the top-two times nationally under all conditions with their performance. Harvey then turned the tables on her teammate in the 200 meters when she won with a wind-legal PR of 23.24 (+0.0) ahead of Johnson’s 23.26 for a personal best of her own.
They emerged among the national leaders in the 200-meter dash with their performance as Harvey’s 23.24 ranked No. 2 and Johnson’s 23.26 ranked No. 4 in the NCAA rankings following the meet.
Like the Tigers, the Lady Tigers swept the Top 4 spots in the women’s 200 meters as Harvey and Johnson were followed across the finish line by freshman Rachel Misher with the No. 5-ranked time in the country and a personal best of 23.29 and sophomore Mikiah Brisco with a personal best of at 23.62. Junior Travia Jones added a heat-winning PR of 24.18 in the second heat to finish seventh overall.
While LSU’s youth was certainly on display in the team’s outdoor opener, Chase flew the flag for the upperclassmen with a national-leading performance in her outdoor debut in the 400-meter hurdles. She blew away the field with the top time among collegians this season at 57.08 for the fastest season opener of her career. Junior teammate Ka’Lynn Jupiter opened with a personal best of 57.98 for third place in the event.
Junior All-American Jada Martin also cracked the Top 5 of the national rankings with her performance on Friday night as she ran 52.94 in the first 400-meter race of her collegiate career to finish runner-up overall.
Three athletes cracked the school’s all-time Top 10 performance lists while winning event titles on the day as senior Patrick Geers won the men’s hammer throw, junior Morgan Schuetz won the women’s 3,000 meters and freshman Hollie Parker won the women’s 1,500 meters with personal-best performances.
Junior Johnnie Jackson joined Geers in the Top 10 of the Tigers’ all-time list in the hammer throw with a series-best mark of 204-7 to follow in fourth place with the No. 9-ranked performance in team history.
Schuetz became the fifth-fastest Lady Tiger to ever run the 3,000 meters outdoors as she clocked a winning time of 9:44.41, while Parker earned her place on LSU’s all-time Top 10 list as the No. 10-ranked Lady Tiger all-time in the 1,500 meters with a winning personal best of 4:26.92. Geers won the men’s hammer throw title early on with a series-best of 212 feet, 0 inches to rank No. 7 in school history.
Other Tigers and Lady Tigers claiming event titles with new personal bests include senior Cyril Grayson (1:49.35) in the men’s 800 meters, junior Blair Henderson (3:46.48) in the men’s 1,500 meters, sophomore Hannah Deworth (2:10.12) in the women’s 800 meters, sophomore Da’Quan Bellard (24-5 ¾) in the men’s long jump and sophomore Danielle Phillips (20-1 ¾) in the women’s long jump. Among their 19 event champions on the day were also junior Rebekah Wales (172-4) in the javelin and freshman Dajour Braxton (8:24.96) in the 3,000 meters.
Phillips actually set two personal bests on the day as she added a second-place finish in the women’s 100-meter hurdles with a time of 13.83 (+0.2) to her win in the long jump. Adding personal bests were senior Terry Hughes with a throw of 208-1 in the javelin and junior Danielle Avery (2:11.96), freshman Erika Lewis (2:10.67) and freshman Tommy Brocato (1:56.12) all in the 800 meters.
LSU’s teams wrapped up their outdoor opener by sweeping 4×400-meter relay titles as the Lady Tigers stormed to victory in 3:35.06 in the women’s event with a team of freshman Oksana Lawrence, Jones, Misher and Chase, and the Tigers took the tape in 3:07.97 in the men’s final with a team of Bruton, senior Fitzroy Dunkley, Flournoy and Grayson.
The Tigers and Lady Tigers will be off and running at the 89th Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays next weekend when they make their annual trip to Austin, Texas, to compete March 31-April 2 at Mike A. Myers Stadium at the University of Texas. They follow by playing host to their first of three home meets this outdoor season with the Battle on the Bayou being held on Saturday, April 9, at the Bernie Moore Track Stadium.