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Tigers Sweep NCAA Relay Titles in Men's FinaleTigers Sweep NCAA Relay Titles in Men's Finale

Tigers Sweep NCAA Relay Titles in Men's Finale

Tigers Sweep NCAA Relay Titles in Men’s Finale

EUGENE, Ore. – The LSU Tigers kicked off Friday’s finale to the men’s NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships with a record-setting win in the 4×100-meter relay and ended the day with a sweep of NCAA relay titles with a victory in the 4×400-meter relay en route to a fifth-place team finish at Oregon’s Hayward Field.

Their team of freshman Jaron Flournoy, junior Renard Howell, junior Tremayne Acy and junior Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake had lined up as the most dominant sprint relay team throughout the 2016 season, and went out as national  champions after running a Hayward Field record of 38.42 seconds to win the ninth NCAA title in the event in school history.

With one national championship and a Hayward Field record already under their belts, the Tigers were crowned champions of the 4×400-meter relay with a winning 3 minutes, 0.69 seconds in their final event.

LSU has fielded the most dominant 4×400-meter relay team in collegiate track and field in recent years, and junior LaMar Bruton, junior Michael Cherry, senior Cyril Grayson and senior Fitzroy Dunkley won the program its third-straight national championship in the event while defending their NCAA Outdoor crown from a year ago. They were also crowned the NCAA Indoor Champions earlier this season.

The Tigers were crowned NCAA relay champions in both the 4×100-meter and 4×400-meter relays for the third time in school history after also doubling in 2003 and 2006. Florida was the last school to win NCAA titles in both events on the final day of the 2013 season also held at Oregon’s Hayward Field.

By wrapping up this year’s meet with two NCAA event titles for their efforts, the Tigers made it 17 of the last 18 seasons of winning at least one NCAA Outdoor event championship since the 1998 campaign.

LSU’s men cracked the Top 5 of the final team standings with their performance as they totaled 41 points on the final day of the competition for fifth place overall. After taking home the fourth-place team trophy each of the last two seasons, the Tigers extended the longest active streak of top-10 finishes at the NCAA Outdoor Championships to 19-straight years since the 1997 season.

The Florida Gators reclaimed the NCAA Outdoor team title they last won in 2013, while Arkansas followed in second place with 56 points, Texas A&M trailed in third place with 50 points and defending NCAA Champions Oregon rounded out the trophy teams in fourth place with 48 points. The Southeastern Conference actually featured six of the top-seven teams in the final men’s standings as Tennessee placed sixth with 30 points on the day and Mississippi State was seventh with 22 points.

While their start to the day could not have been better, the Tigers’ victory in the 4×100-meter relay came at a cost as Mitchell-Blake pulled up near the finish line with what proved to be a cramp in his hamstring. He ran the anchor leg of a team that broke the previous Hayward Field record of 38.47 by defending relay champion Arkansas in last year’s NCAA final.

The Houston Cougars also bettered the previous stadium record with a time of 38.44 for the silver medal, while Arkansas bagged the bronze medal with a time of 38.49 in its title defense. Rounding out the eight teams in the 4×100-meter relay were Florida (38.54) in fourth, Western Kentucky (38.60) in fifth, TCU (38.72) in sixth, NC State (39.48) in seventh and Arizona State (39.90) in eighth.

But the damage was done as the effects of Mitchell-Blake’s injury were felt in the 100-meter final when he jogged a 12.05 for eighth place before scratching from the 200-meter final as the favorite in the event.

“I wouldn’t say that we would have won had Nate (Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake) not gotten hurt, but it would have certainly made it interesting,” Shaver said of his star sprinter. “I knew at that point without Nate we had to win every time we lined up on the track. I’m just disappointed for our guys. They’ve worked so hard all year long to get to this point, and it’s just unfortunate to see it end like that.”

While Mitchell-Blake was ruled out of the 200-meter final, Howell picked up the baton and turned in an All-American performance as he stopped the clock in 20.55 (-0.2) from the far outside in lane No. 8 to total up five points with a fourth-place finish in his first career NCAA final in the event.

“It definitely feels good to contribute to my team. Obviously, I missed the indoor season, so I wanted to make my mark outdoors,” Howell said when speaking to the media after the race. “Coming here, definitely, was to do the best as possible. I didn’t get the win, but I’ve got next year as well. It’s just good to get some points for my team.

“Just try to focus on your own lane, you can’t focus on anybody else,” Howell added about his lane assignment in the final. “In lane eight, you just have to get off as quick as possible and just try to hold on and maintain coming down the straightaway. So, today that was my goal. It probably didn’t work out as well as I wanted to, but I tried my best and I’m happy with that.”

Howell also shared how he and his teammates in the sprint relay wanted to leave their mark on the Hayward Field track as the undisputed kings of the event after entering the week as the NCAA leaders in the event.

“It’s very good. We came in No. 1, and we definitely wanted to show that we had that mark for a reason,” Howell continued. “Coming out, we knew that we just had to get the stick around and everybody just do what they’ve been doing all season. We got the win, which was good. We needed to have that kind of start today, and we got it.”

The Tigers captured their ninth NCAA title all-time in the 4×100-meter relay as they snapped a four-year drought with their first win since 2012. They also won three-straight sprint relay championships from 1992-94 and four others after the turn of the century in 2002, 2003, 2006 and 2008. LSU’s winning time of 38.42 in Friday’s final ties for the fifth-fastest time in school history.

Cherry and Dunkley qualified for Friday’s final in the 400-meter dash with a 1-2 finish in their semifinal heat on Wednesday night, and they warmed up for their title defense in the 4×400-meter relay with personal-best performances with two medal-winning finishes. Dunkley nearly broke 45 seconds with a PR of 45.06 to score the NCAA Outdoor silver medal, while Cherry followed with a best of 45.11 to win his NCAA Outdoor bronze medal. Florida’s Arman Hall was crowned the NCAA’s 400-meter champion in 44.82.

“It was a great race with six SEC guys in the race,” Dunkley said. “We’ve pretty much raced everybody before, so we kind of had an idea of what we should go out there and do. I kind of sat back on the homestretch to save a little bit for coming home. I’m happy with our performances. When you PR you can’t ask for more than that. We just went out there and gave our best, came out 2-3. We wanted 1-2, but we’ll take it.”

The Tigers ended the meet by winning their sixth NCAA Outdoor Championship all-time in the 4×400-meter relay as Bruton (46.40), Cherry (44.20), Grayson (45.81) and Dunkley (44.29) defended LSU’s crown from 2015 while beating Florida (3:01.12) to the tape in their final event of the weekend. The Tigers ran second to the Gators for much of the race before Dunkley overtook Najee Glass on the homestretch for the victory.

Taking third in the 4×400 relay was Nebraska at 3:03.39, followed by Texas A&M (3:03.94) in fourth place, Clemson (3:04.75) in fifth place, Purdue (3:06.25) in sixth place and Ohio State (3:06.27) in seventh place.

“It was a good position for us to be in second place. We could see (Florida) and sit on them until we needed to make a move,” Grayson said in describing their race. “It was just like last year, we were in pretty much the same position and Fitzroy (Dunkley) ran just like Vernon Norwood last year. He took care of business and passed Najee (Glass) at the end.”

Junior Jordan Moore also lined up in his first career NCAA Outdoor final in the 110-meter hurdles in Friday’s men’s finale as he added a point with an eighth-place finish after crossing the finish line in 13.88 (-0.9).

The Lady Tigers will be back in action on Saturday afternoon to wrap up the 2016 season as they feature six finalists on the track on the final day of the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Action is set to get underway at 5:32 p.m. CT with the running of the 4×100-meter relay and will continue through the final event of the day in the 4×400-meter relay at 7:51 p.m.

ESPN will broadcast the final day of the women’s competition at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships from 5:30-8 p.m. CT, while live streaming on ESPN3.com is also available from 1:30-8 p.m.

Fans can also receive live updates and behind-the-scenes coverage of the Lady Tigers competing in Saturday’s finals in their 2016 outdoor season finale at the NCAA Outdoor Championship by liking LSU Track & Field on Facebook at http://facebook.com/lsutrackfield and by following @LSUTrackField on Twitter at http://twitter.com/lsutrackfield and Instagram at http://instagram.com/lsutrackfield.