HOUSTON — The LSU track and field team came up with a breakout performance Saturday afternoon, breaking five stadium records while posting 12 NCAA qualifying marks at the Tom Tellez Inviational at the University of Houston.
Most notably, the Tigers’ shattered the school record in the 4×400-meter relay by more than a second, posting the fastest time in the world so far during the outdoor season.
“Very often the level of competition dictates the performance and there was a strong field out there today and our athletes responded on both sides,” said LSU head coach Pat Henry. “We looked good pretty much across the board today. Our relays and sprinters performed well, our jumpers stepped up and we had some nice performances from our throwers.”
What had already been a great day for Henry got better in a stretch of just over three minutes, as the two premier 4×400-meter relay squads, LSU and Baylor renewed the rivalry that saw them go 1-2 at the NCAA Indoor meet three weeks ago.
In a scene reminiscent of the NCAA championship race, LSU rallied behind a 44.1-second anchor split from Alleyne Francique to haul down the Baylor anchor and win the event in a time of 3:01.73. Three of the four members of LSU’s NCAA team ran on Saturday, as Robert Parham led off followed by Lueory Colquhoun and newcomer Pete Coley, the only member not to run at NCAA’s.
Baylor finished just behind in 3:02.16. The time posted by the Tigers shattered the stadium and the six-year-old LSU mark of 3:03.37 registered by Eddie Kennison, Rohsaan Griffin, Regan Nichols and Milton Mallard in 1995.
LSU broke three other Carl Lewis/Tom Tellez International Track Stadium marks on the track, including both short relays. The Lady Tigers’ 4×100-meter relay group of Sa’Donna Thornton, Stephanie Durst, Myra Combs and Mun Lee won the event with an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 43.94 seconds, a season best time for the foursome.
Moments later, the Tigers matched the Lady Tigers with a stadium mark of their own, wining the men’s 4×100-meter relay in a time of 39.66, also a season best time. The Tigers used a new lineup, running Pete Coley to Parham to Gerald Green to anchor Devery Henderson to post their top time of the season.
Ronetta Smith earned SEC Women’s Track and Field Athlete of the Week honors for her national-leading time in the 400-meter dash a week ago. Smith lowered her time even further on Saturday, becoming only the fourth woman in LSU history to run a sub-52-second 400-meter dash. The junior All-American blew away the field, posting a personal best time of 51.92 to win the event and smash the stadium mark.
It marked the second straight week that Smith broke a stadium mark, as last week she took down the stadium mark at venerable Cromwell Field at Southern California.
Walter Davis made his much anticipated outdoor debut in the triple jump on Saturday and did not disappoint. The NCAA Indoor triple jump champion won his event with a stadium record mark of 53 feet 10 1/2 inches, an NCAA automatic qualifier as well.
The Lady Tigers looked particularly sharp in the short sprints on Saturday, as Lee, Durst, Thornton, Combs and Lolo Jones finished 1-5, all posting NCAA provisional marks. Lee won the event in a legal time of 11.36, while Durst won her heat in a slightly wind-aided time of 11.42. Thornton, Combs and Jones all ran identical 11.51s.
Jones then turned around and finished second in the 100-meter hurdles with an NCAA provisional time of 13.44.
The Lady Tigers picked up a pair of wins in the field, as Chenelle Marshall won the women’s long jump with an NCAA provisional mark of 20-5 1/2, while Amy Higginbotham won the javelin with a throw of 144-9.
Keith Nunez finished second in the men’s javelin, but came up with a seven-foot personal best, posting a solid 205-1, while Claston Bernard came up with a personal best as well, throwing 184-0 to finish two spots back.
LSU returns to action next weekend when both squads travel to the 74th running of the Texas Relays at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin, Texas from Thursday through Saturday.