AUSTIN, Texas — The LSU track and field team battled difficult conditions on Saturday, but still managed to win a pair of relays on the final day of competition at the Texas Relays at Mike A. Myers Stadium.
The Lady Tigers won the 4×200-meter relay crown while the Tigers closed out the event with a victory in the 4×400-meter relay on a day marred by cold and rainy weather.
“I think we did as well as we could of based on the conditions,” said LSU head coach Pat Henry. “The weather was not good and it made us hold some people back but we were able to win two relays and still come away from here with a productive weekend.”
The foursome of Lolo Jones, Ronetta Smith, Stephanie Durst and Muna Lee combined to blow away the field in the 4×200-meter relay, winning the event with a time of 1:33.05. The time was more than three seconds ahead of the runner-up time.
Jones, Durst and Lee narrowly missed picking up there second relay title of the day along with Bianca Rockett, but Texas avenged last year’s loss in the 4×100-meter relay and nipped the Lady Tigers in a thrilling race. The Longhorns won the event in a time of 43.89 while LSU finished second in 44.04.
Jones went on to run a personal best in the 100-meter hurdles and finished third in an NCAA automatic time of 13.09, while Lee finished second in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.48.
Rounding out a solid day on the track for the Lady Tigers was a fourth place finish by freshman Doria Appleberry in the 400-meter hurdles. The Texan circled the oval in a personal best and NCAA provisional time of 58.62, nearly a full second better than her previous best.
On the men’s side, the weather forced Henry to not use anchor and NCAA 400-meter champion Alleyne Francique on the mile relay, but the results were still the same. Lueroy Colquhoun, Marlon Greensword, Peter Simon and Pete Coley won the men’s 4×400-meter relay title in a time of 3:06.41.
Coley used a stellar anchor leg to edge Baylor which finished second in a time of 3:06.62.
For Colquhoun, it was his second victory of the day, as the senior took the title in the 400-meter hurdles in a time of 50.14.
The Tigers were not able to be a factor in the 4×100-meter relay, however.
After running the fastest qualifying time of the preliminary rounds on Friday, the Tigers failed to get the stick around for the third time in four meets this season and did not finish the race.
The weather also forced Henry to hold out Olympian Walter Davis in the triple jump. The NCAA champion in the event, Davis felt tight before the competition and Henry opted not to risk injury due to the conditions.
LSU returns to action on Saturday when both squads travel to the Sun Angel Classic in Tempe, Ariz.