AUSTIN, Texas – The LSU Tigers set the tone early at Saturday’s Texas Invitational as junior Tinashe Mutanga, freshman Jaron Flournoy, junior Tremayne Acy and junior Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake captured the men’s 4×100-meter relay title with a new national-leading time of 38.95 seconds in their return trip to Mike A. Myers Stadium.
Mitchell-Blake later ran the fastest wind-legal time in the country and fourth-fastest under all conditions with a personal best of 10.09 in the 100-meter dash, while Mutanga added a seasonal best of his own in the 200 meters with a career-best wind-aided time of 20.50 for the fourth-fastest time among collegians under all conditions this spring.
Both of LSU’s 4×100-meter relay teams ran personal bests during Saturday’s meet as the Lady Tigers also bettered their seasonal best with a winning time of 43.23 to rank No. 3 nationally this season.
Junior Jada Martin helped lead the Lady Tigers to victory in the sprint relay before turning in one of the 10 fastest 200-meter times in the NCAA, and senior Chanice Chase and sophomore Kymber Payne each ran a new personal best in the 400-meter hurdles as LSU’s athletes combined for seven top-10 performances in the NCAA rankings to highlight Saturday’s trip to Austin.
The Tigers had already run the NCAA’s fifth-fastest sprint relay at 39.33 when junior Jordan Moore led off a team with Flournoy, Mutanga and Mitchell-Blake at Miami’s Hurricane Twilight on March 25.
They trailed the homestanding Texas Longhorns by a narrow margin at the second exchange, but Acy pulled their team even with a strong third leg as he handed the baton to Mitchell-Blake on the anchor leg. Mitchell-Blake sprinted past Texas’ Senoj Jay-Givans and crossed the finish line with an NCAA-leading 38.95 followed by the Longhorns in second place at 39.22. Arkansas followed in third place with a time of 39.52.
Not only did the Tigers set the NCAA standard this season with their performance, but they also welcomed Acy back to the lineup for the first time in nearly two months as he made his first appearance for LSU since he reinjured his hamstring running the preliminary round of the 200 meters at the SEC Indoor Championships in Arkansas back on Feb. 26.
The three-time All-American from Dallas ran a strong third leg to put Mitchell-Blake in a good position to close out a win as the Tigers slashed nearly four tenths of a second off of their previous seasonal best.
“We’re excited to have Tremayne back at full strength and ready to help our team at this point of the season. He makes a big difference for us, whether he’s running in one of his individual events or on our relay,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “I thought the guys ran a great relay today. There’s still a lot of room for improvement, but they’re getting better every week executing the race and finding a chemistry.”
Mitchell-Blake wouldn’t stop there as he later returned to the track in lane No. 9 and sprinted to an NCAA-leading wind-legal time of 10.09 (+1.0) to win the men’s 100-meter title at this year’s Texas Invitational.
Mitchell-Blake, who stepped into the blocks with a previous wind-legal PR of 10.42 set during the 2014 season, was in control of the race early on and cruised to the finish line for the win as his time of 10.09 was the No. 1-ranked wind-legal time in the NCAA this season and fourth-fastest time nationally under all conditions. He also moved into a tie for the No. 3 spot on LSU’s all-time outdoor performance list in the event.
Internationally, Mitchell-Blake’s season-opening 10.09 cracked the Top 10 of the World Rankings in the No. 6 spot and eclipsed the Olympic “A” qualifying standard of 10.16 as he will later look to represent Great Britain at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, this summer. He is a candidate to qualify for the Olympics in the 100 meters, 200 meters and 4×100 relay for Team GB.
“The 100 (meters) is just so technical. I know I’m a strong guy, the 200 is my primary event. I just wanted to try to execute and be as patient as possible and whatever time came would come,” Mitchell-Blake said. “I did expect to run something respectable, but 10.09, I’m more than happy with that. I knew I was in good shape, practice has been going well, so I’m glad to run well here today.”
“My main focus is taking it week by week for now. I’m looking forward to running the 200 next week, so we’ll see what happens there. It’s a good start for me, but hopefully there’s more to come.”
The Lady Tigers were also runaway winners in the women’s 4×100-meter relay as they preceded the Tigers’ victory with a victory of their own while running a seasonal-best time of 43.23 to drop their previous best of 43.25 in winning an exciting final on the same track at the Texas Relays just two weeks ago. Junior Rushell Harvey, freshman Kortnei Johnson, Martin and sophomore Mikiah Brisco held up as the No. 2 sprint relay team in the country this season with their winning seasonal-best of 43.23.
The Lady Tigers featured the two fastest teams in the women’s 4×100 relay on Saturday as their “B” team of freshman Shayna Yon, sophomore Aleia Hobbs, freshman Rachel Misher and junior Nataliyah Friar put 44.56 on the scoreboard for second place at more than one second behind the winners. Iowa rounded out the medalists in third place with a time of 45.27.
Martin also cracked the NCAA’s Top 10 this season with a seasonal best in the women’s 200 meters as she scored the silver medal with her wind-legal 22.85 (+2.0) to finish runner-up to the national-leading run of 22.63 by Arkansas’ Taylor Ellis-Watson. Martin’s 22.85 was the seventh-fastest wind-legal time and ninth-fastest time under all conditions in the NCAA for the 2016 season.
Johnson later won the bronze medal in the women’s 100-meter dash with a personal-best run of 11.36 (+0.8) for third place, followed by Harvey (11.50) in sixth place and Hobbs (11.51) in ninth place in the four-section final. Brisco opened her season in the 100-meter hurdles with a heat-winning time of 13.58 (+0.8) for seventh place overall.
Chase and Payne each picked up right where she left off at LSU’s Battle on the Bayou a week ago with personal-best performances on Saturday in the 400-meter hurdles to rank among the nation’s best.
It was Payne setting the pace early in the race as she held the advantage through the 200-meter mark, around the curve and turning down the homestretch. Chase showed her strength as she surged ahead going over the eighth and ninth hurdles and crossed the finish line with a 56.17 personal best to win her second title in as many events after running 56.66 at the Battle on the Bayou. Unattached athlete Jasmine Hyder followed in second place with a time of 56.49, while Payne finished in third place with a personal best of 56.60.
They remain two of the NCAA’s leading performers in the 400-meter hurdles as Chase climbed three spots to No. 4 and Payne cracked the Top 10 at No. 9 among collegians for the 2016 season. Payne also moved up to the No. 8 spot on LSU’s all-time outdoor performance list in the event as one of the fastest intermediate hurdlers in school history with her personal best.
Mutanga carried LSU’s momentum into the men’s 200 meters by running the fastest time of his career under all conditions with a wind-aided 20.50 (+2.4) to claim the second heat with the third-fastest time of the day. He emerged as the fourth-fastest sprinter in the NCAA this season under all conditions while eclipsing his previous wind-legal seasonal best of 20.52 from the Hurricane Twilight.
Among those Mutanga beat to the finish line in the second heat was former Tiger Vernon Norwood (20.59w) and Flournoy (20.68w) with the LSU freshman tying for the 14th-fastest time in the NCAA this season.
“Our athletes are doing a great job of preparing themselves to compete each week, and we’re seeing the results of that come the weekend from many in our group,” Shaver said. “We need to see more of that now at this point of the season as we’re getting ready for the championship meets. We’ve got another great chance at home next weekend to improve yet again.”
As she did at the Battle on the Bayou a week ago, Lady Tiger junior Morgan Schuetz opened proceedings on the track at the Texas Invitational with a comfortable victory in the women’s 1,500 meters as she surged past the field on the final lap and crossed the finish line in 4 minutes, 23.15 seconds to finish nearly three seconds ahead of Ole Miss’ Britt Ummels (4:25.93) in second place.
Schuetz was just three tenths of a second off of her personal-best time of 4:22.83 in the event as the No. 8-ranked performer in the women’s 1,500 meters in the history of the Lady Tiger program.
While Schuetz scored an easy victory in the women’s 1,500 meters, fellow junior Rebekah Wales was on the javelin runway nearby for the start of the second flight in the event as she followed an opening throw of 168 feet, 10 inches on her first attempt with a series-best throw of 169-8 on her third attempt to take first place into the finals. Nebraska’s Sarah Firestone made it close with her best throw at 169-0 in the fifth round, but it was Wales winning her second title in three appearances this season.
In the men’s field events, senior David Collins led the way with a personal-best effort in the hammer throw when he opened with a series-best throw of 212-2 on his very first attempt to earn second place behind only Ole Miss’ Dempsey McGuigan (224-7) in the standings. Collins, who also ended his series with a mark of 211-9 that was better than his previous PR of 206-7, moved up to No. 8 on LSU’s all-time list in the event.
The Tigers swept second, third and fourth places in the men’s hammer throw competition as junior Johnnie Jackson threw 209-3 for the bronze medal and senior Patrick Geers threw 208-1 for fourth place overall.
Junior Nataliyah Friar and sophomore Danielle Phillips were among LSU’s other medalists during the meet. Friar jumped a wind-aided series-best of 42-4 ¾ (+2.1) in the second round to take second place in the women’s triple jump, while Phillips jumped a wind-legal 20-1 (+1.4) in the fifth round for second place in the women’s long jump.
Also setting a personal best with his performance during Saturday’s Texas Invitational was freshman distance runner Dajour Braxton, who finished second overall in the men’s 3,000 meters with a career-best 8:22.49 in the one-heat final. Freshman Bryan Stamey was just two tenths of a second off of his PR in the event as he clocked 8:39.30 for third place behind Braxton.
Junior Cameron Robichaux nearly matched his personal best with a clearance of 16-7 ¼ to tie for sixth place in the men’s pole vault.
LSU’s teams have hit the homestretch of the regular season as they return home for the next two weekends to play host to this year’s LSU Alumni Gold meet on April 23 and the second-annual LSU Invitational on April 30. They will then kick off the championship season with a trip to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to compete at the 2016 SEC Outdoor Track & Field Championships running May 12-14.