LOS ANGELES — The USC track and field team extracted a measure of revenge, sweeping LSU in a dual meet between the perennial powers Saturday afternoon at Cromwell Field.
Competing without several key athletes, USC won the men’s event 112-69, while taking the women’s event 114-75.
Despite the result in the team competition, LSU head coach Pat Henry was extremely pleased with a number of impressive individual performances by his athletes on the afternoon.
“A meet like this is not as emotional for us as it is for them (USC),” said Henry. “We’ve been pounding away for two months through the indoor season and they are just getting started now.
“We came out of here accomplishing what we hoped to accomplish with most of our athletes.”
The Tigers were without the All-American horizontal jump tandem of Walter Davis and Marcus Thomas who have yet to compete outdoors after suffering injuries during the indoor season.
The Tigers did come up with several outstanding efforts on Saturday, as Alleyne Francique looked sharp in his outdoor debut, winning the 400 meter dash with ease in an NCAA provisional time of 46.05. The time also broke the 24-year-old national record for his native Grenada.
The men looked sharp in both relays on Saturday, as the Tigers registered an NCAA provisional time in the 4×100-meter relay team, as the foursome of Gerald Green, Devery Henderson, Pete Cooley and Dwhyte Barrett clocked a season-best time of 39.69.
The Tigers’ proved to have tremendous depth in the quarter milers, using four freshman in the 4×400-meter relay to post an impressive time of 3:09.31, behind the group of Peter Simon, Cooley, Robert Parham and Jeffrey Fisher. Parham is the only member of that squad who competed on the NCAA champion mile relay team during the indoor season.
Other winners for the men on Saturday were Traun Smith in the triple jump, Claston Bernard in the discus and Keith Nunez in the javelin.
On the women’s side, Ronetta Smith broke the Cromwell Field record in the 400-meter dash with an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 52.23, bettering the stadium mark by .03.
“This stadium has been here a long time and there have been some great people to pass through here,” said Henry. “Anytime you break a mark at Cromwell Field, you’ve done something truly outstanding and Ronetta did today.”
Muna Lee picked up where she left off during the indoor season, smoking the women’s 200-meter field in a high NCAA provisional time of 23.15.
Lee also anchored the Lady Tigers to a second place finish in the 4×100 meter relay in a showdown of the top two short relays in the nation. USC, the defending national champion in the event, won in a time of 43.75, while
the Lady Tigers picked up an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 44.19 behind Sa’Donna Thornton, Stephanie Durst, Myra Combs and Lee.
Bianca Rockett returned to form on Saturday after a pair of sub-par performances in her last two outings. The SEC triple jump champion finished second in her signature event, but posted an NCAA provisional mark of 42-2 3/4.
April Sams added another provisional qualifier for the Lady Tigers, finishing second in the 100-meter hurdles in a time of 13.53.
Other winners for the Lady Tigers on Saturday were Zamyal Jackson in the 400-meter hurdles and Randi Opperman in the pole vault.
LSU returns to action next weekend when both squads travel to the University of Houston for the Tom Tellez Invitational on Saturday.