DURHAM, N.C. — The LSU men’s track and field team is in second place, while the Lady Tigers set the stage for another possible title run on day three of the NCAA Outdoor Championships at Wallace Wade Stadium in Durham, N.C.
The Tigers rebounded from a sub-par day on Thursday and picked up points with a third place finish in the 4×100-meter relay and a fourth place finish from Marcus Thomas in the triple jump to give them 28 points with one day of competition remaining. The Tigers scored only 24 points in their ninth place finish a year ago. In addition, Claston Bernard leads the decathlon at the midway point.
“The men rebounded and had a nice day,” said LSU head coach Pat Henry. “We looked good on the relay, Claston had a heck of a day and Marcus continues to shine with the pressure on.”
The story of the day, however, was the Lady Tigers. Picked to finish fifth entering the competition, the Lady Tigers appear to have made it a four-team race with Texas, UCLA and Southern California with one day to go.
“Nobody was eliminated from the picture today, four teams have a good shot at winning this thing heading into the last day and that’s the way it should be,” added Henry. “Texas, UCLA, USC and LSU all have a great shot at grabbing the title and there will be no margin for error tomorrow.”
Despite only having 12 points and being in 12th place entering the final day of competition, the Lady Tigers set the stage for a major run on Saturday by advancing well once again. The Lady Tigers have eight scoring opportunities on Saturday with two in the 100, 200 and triple jump, plus one in the 100-meter hurdles and a 4×400-meter relay.
UCLA leads the women’s competition heading into the final day with 44 points, but have only two scoring opportunities on Saturday. Texas enters with 27 points, but has two athletes in the 200, one in the 100 and a heavily-favored 4×400-meter relay team. Southern California has 24 points and has an athlete in the 100, 200, 1,500, the 4×400-meter relay and the triple jump.
The Lady Tigers nearly regained the 4×100-meter relay they last held in 1997, finishing second to Southern California. Joyce Bates, Valma Bass, Myra Combs and Peta-Gaye Dowdie ran a season-best time of 43.16, but came up just short as Southern California edged LSU at the line with a time of 43.14 in one of the more exciting finishes of the day.
Dowdie grabbed the stick on the anchor leg with a four-meter deficit and nearly made it up, but Southern California anchor Kinshasa Davis held Dowdie off, leaning her way to victory.
The second place finish by the Lady Tigers came moments after the Tigers finished third in the men’s 4×100-meter relay. Russ Buller, Derrick Brew, Deryell Patterson and Dwhyte Barrett ran a season-best time of 39.07 to finish just behind Florida and South Carolina.
Buller was a last minute substitution for Carlos Garcia on the first leg and ends his LSU career as a seven-time All-American, the second highest total in LSU men’s history.
Marcus Thomas capped a strong weekend, finishing fourth in the triple jump with a jump of 53-10 1/4. Thomas became the first LSU man since Reggie Jones in 1993 to score in both the long and triple jumps at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Thomas finished third in the long jump on Wednesday.
The Lady Tigers had a strong day on the track, as both Dowdie and Sa’Donna Thornton advanced to Saturday’s 100-meter dash final. Dowdie won her preliminary heat in a time of 11.20, matching her best time of the year, while Thornton finished third in the same heat in a season-best time of 11.35.
Dowdie then ran the fastest qualifying time in the 200-meter dash, blazing to a 22.74, while Bass also advanced to Saturday’s final with a time of 23.22.
Bates came back after the 4×100-meter relay to advance in the 100-meter hurdles as well. Bates finished second in her semifinal heat in a time of 12.95.
Blake Theriot became the first Tiger since 1991 to earn All-American honors in the javelin with an eighth place finish. The SEC champion struggled early, but made the final on his last attempt of the preliminary round, coming up with a throw of 218-6, his best throw on the day.
Teammate Craig Nall finished 16th with a throw of 215-8.
Bernard opened his quest for the NCAA decathlon title with a solid effort, taking the lead after one day of competition with 4,222 points, more than 100 better than his pace that earned him the SEC title in May.
Bernard opened the day by winning his heat of the 100-meter dash in a time of 10.98 and then came up with a throw of 50-0 3/4 in the shot put, the top mark in the field. He tied for the best mark in the high jump with a personal best jump of 6-11, then closed it out with a personal best time of 48.22 in the 400-meter dash.
“I feel really good so far,” said Bernard. “I started out a little bit tentative. I won my heat of the 100 but I can run much faster. I think I was a little nervous because a year ago nobody knew who I was and now there is a little more pressure on me to be among the leaders. I just have to keep my composure tomorrow.”
Bernard holds a 69-point lead over Stephen Harris of Tennessee heading into tomorrow’s competition. Bernard finished fifth as a freshman a year ago.
Men’s Team Scores (Top 10)
1, Stanford, 36. 2, LSU, 28. 3, Arizona, 26. 4, Auburn, 24. 5, Arkansas, 23. 6 (tie), SMU, Southern California, 18. 8 (tie), Alabama, Florida, 14. 10 (tie), Arizona State, Georgia, 13.
Women’s Team Scores (Top 10)
1, UCLA, 44. 2, BYU, 31. 3, Arkansas, 29. 4, Texas, 27. 5, Southern California, 24. 6, SMU, 20. 7 (tie), Nebraska, Houston, 18. 9, Syracuse, 16. 10, Colorado, 15… 12, LSU, 12.