PHILADELPHIA — All week long LSU track and field head coach Pat Henry placed a particular signficance on his team’s performance at this weekend’s Penn Relays, knowing it would be his team’s final outing before the upcoming Southeastern Conference Championships.
After an impressive showing this weekend, Henry can rest easy that his top-ranked Tigers and third-ranked Lady Tigers will be ready in two weeks.
The LSU track and field team capped a tremendous weekend by winning three titles on the final day of competition at the 107th running of the Penn Relays on Saturday before a meet record 48,922 fans at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.
“We had a great weekend of competition. With one or two exceptions we did everything we came here to do,” said Henry. “Anytime you win three titles in one day at a competition of this caliber, it is a tremendous accomplishment. This is a world class competition and we came up with some great performances.”
The Lady Tigers’ 4×200-meter relay group of Ronetta Smith, Myra Combs, Stephanie Durst and Muna Lee won LSU’s sixth title in eight years in the event, breaking the school record with a time of 1:31.24.
Lee grabbed the stick on the anchor leg even with 2000 NCAA Indoor 200 meter champion Miki Barber of South Carolina, but ran a near perfect curve to easily distance herself.
With the win, it extended the Lady Tigers’ streak of consecutive years with at least one relay title at Penn to 11 years. It also marked the fourth time in six years that LSU broke its school record at the Penn Relays.
It was just a prelude of things to come for Lee, however. Just over two hours later Lee became only the second freshman to ever win the 100 meter title, joining former Lady Tiger All-American Kwajalein Butler by blowing away the field in a time of 11.24 under legal winds.
Earlier in the day the Tigers finished sixth in the 4×100-meter relay with a time of 40.47 with the group of Devery Henderson, Robert Parham, Gerlad Green and Dwhyte Barrett, slightly fastest than their preliminary time from Friday.
TCU won the event with a Penn Relays record time of 38.68, the fastest time in the NCAA this year.
The Tigers suffered a mild upset in the 4×400-meter relay to close out competition. The world-leading Tiger mile relay finished third behind Florida and Auburn.
Tiger anchor Alleyne Francique inherited a deficit and ran a superb first 200 meters to put LSU within striking distance. Francique was edged at the line, however, by NCAA Indoor 400-meter champion Ricky Harris of Florida and defending NCAA Outdoor champion Avard Moncur of Auburn.
The Lady Tigers finished third in the mile relay as well.
Walter Davis completed his sweep of the horizontal jumps in his first ever trip to Penn. The Olympian added to Friday’s long jump title by winning the triple jump on Saturday with an NCAA-leading mark of 55 feet 3/4 inches.
With the win, Davis became only the fourth man in Penn Relays history to sweep both horizontal jumps.
In the ‘B’ section of the collegiate men’s triple jump, LSU’s Traun Smith finished fourth with a jump of 49-11 3/4.
LSU will take next weekend off before traveling to the SEC Outdoor Championships in Columbia, S.C., from May 10-13. The Tigers finished second in Baton Rouge a year ago, while the Lady Tigers finished third.