TEMPE, Ariz. — The LSU track and field team concluded a tremendous weekend at the Sun Angel Classica at Arizona State by winning seven events, posting four national leading marks and recording 10 NCAA qualifiers.
LSU swept the short relays, 200s and both intermediate hurdles, including a school record from Lueroy Colquhoun, while Walter Davis picked up a win in the triple jump.
Colquhoun is a relative newcomer to the 400-meter hurdles, but has looked like a veteran through five outdoor meets this season. The senior broke the six-year-old LSU record in the event, winning with an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 49.26 seconds, the fastest time in the nation this year.
Teammate Bennie Brazell, on loan from spring football, finished third and also posted an automatic qualifier with a time of 49.50. Brazell’s time ranks third in LSU history, while Colquhoun bettered former All-American Regan Nicols time of 49.43, set in 1996.
Freshman Doria Appleberry gave LSU a sweep of the 400-meter hurdle titles when she picked up a win with a very fast NCAA provisional time of 58.16.
The time is the fifth fastest time in school history and the fastest by an LSU woman since 1994 NCAA champion Debbie Parris set her school record.
The Lady Tigers ran a different 4×100-meter relay group but produced their fourth victory in five outdoor meets. Appleberry substituted for normal lead Bianca Rockett and came up big, as she joined with Lolo Jones, Stephanie Durst and Muna Lee to pick up a win over rival Southern California.
Appleberry opened up while USC started with three-time NCAA 100-meter champion Angela Williams. Appleberry kept the Lady Tigers within striking distance in what LSU head coach Pat Henry would call the most critical leg of the race.
Jones pulled the Tigers even on the second leg and Durst blew the race open, running a perfect curve before handing the stick to NCAA 200-meter champion Lee, who never looked back. The Lady Tigers posted an NCAA-leading and automatic qualifying time of 43.71 while USC finished second in 44.30.
“Doria gave us the critical start that we needed,” said Henry. “She knew she was lined up against Angela Williams and didn’t panic and kept us in the race. Lolo and Stephanie did a great job and any time you give the stick to Muna Lee with the lead your chances of winning are very good.”
Moments later the Tigers ran a different lineup as well and experienced similar results. Paul Thompson led off and handed the stick to Robert Parham, followed by Pete Coley and Bennie Brazell, as the Tigers won comfortably with an NCAA provisional time of 39.43.
Thompson and Parham struggled with the first exchange but Parham made up for it with a tremendous second leg. Coley, as Durst had done in the women’s race, ate up the field on the curve and gave the stick to Brazell with the lead and the freshman calmly finished the last 100 for a comfortable win. Alabama finished second in 39.63.
The Tigers had dropped the stick in three of their first four meets of the year but gave Henry the result he was looking for on Saturday.
“First and foremost we wanted to get the stick around today,” said Henry. “The exchanges were pretty clean with one exception, but I was very pleased with how they ran today.”
Olympian Walter Davis made his outdoor debut in the triple jump and quickly moved to familiar territory, posting the top mark in the NCAA this season.
The defending NCAA champion put together a solid series, capped by a jump of 55 feet 5 inches to win by a substantial margin.
NCAA indoor 200-meter champion Muna Lee stepped to the top of the national leader board an uncorked an NCAA automatic qualifying time of 22.90 seconds to win the women’s deuce. Lee made up the stagger before the end of the turn and blew away a competitive field by nearly four tenths of a second.
Lee’s time broke the stadium record of 23.02 set by Maisel Malone and broke the meet record as well.
Moments later Robert Parham gave LSU a clean sweep of the events with an impressive NCAA automatic qualifying time of his own. Parham and Dominic Demerette ran an even race through the turn before Demerette seized the lead with 40 meters to go. Parham put on a late charge and edged the unattached runner in a personal best time of 20.44, run with a legal wind.
Elsewhere on the track, Stephanie Durst came up with a provisional qualifier in the 100-meter dash, clocking a time of 11.48 to finish third behind All-Americans Angela Williams of Southern California and Brianna Glenn of Arizona.
In the field, Blake Theriot continued his successful return in the javelin after missing the entire 2001 season with elbow surgery. Theriot finished second in the event and came up with a very high NCAA provisional mark of 229 feet 2 inches, very close to the mark that made him the SEC champion two years ago and got him into the 2000 NCAA Championships.
Other top finishes by LSU athletes included a second place finish by Javier Nieto in the hammer throw with a mark of 195-3 and a third place finish for Ronetta Smith in the 400-meter dash in a season best NCAA provisional time of 52.53.
LSU returns home this weekend for its final competition at Bernie Moore Stadium before hosting the NCAA Outdoor Championships later this spring.
The LSU Team Invitational gets underway on Friday afternoon and will continue through Saturday.