BATON ROUGE — For the first time this season the SEC Men’s Track and Field Athlete of the Week is not an individual honor but a group honor, as the league recognized the LSU men’s 4×400-meter relay team for its remarkable performance in Houston on Saturday.
The Tigers’ 4×400-meter relay group of Robert Parham, Lueroy Colquhoun, Pete Coley and Alleyne Francique edged rival Baylor in a race that produced the two fastest outdoor times in the world to date this season.
LSU shattered the school record in the event with a time of 3:01.73, the second fastest time in SEC history and the fastest time by an SEC school since 1988. The mark broke the previous LSU record by more than a second and half, bettering the time of 3:03.37 set by Eddie Kennison, Rohsaan Griffin, Regan Nicholls and Milton Mallard in 1995.
In a mirror image of their race with Baylor at the NCAA Indoor Champions hips in which the Tigers rallied for a victory that ultimately led them to their first NCAA team title, Francique grabbed the stick with a 10-meter deficit before running a 44.1 anchor leg to haul in Baylor anchor Bayano Kamani.
The two will renew their rivalry this weekend at the Texas Relays in what will be one of the most highly anticipated events of the competition on Saturday.