STARKVILLE, Miss. — Walter Davis completed defense of the horizontal jumps, while LSU combined to win seven events on the final day of the SEC Outdoor Championships at W.O. Spencer Track Stadium.
Davis added to his long jump title on Saturday by winning the triple jump, as the Tigers finished fourth, while the Lady Tigers got wins from Muna Lee, Stephanie Durst, Lolo Jones, Nicole Toney and the short relay, as they finished fourth as well.
Tennessee defended its men’s title, while South Carolina won the women’s competition, its second title overall and first since 1999.
In addition to winning seven events, LSU broke four stadium marks on the day.
“I don’t think there’s a whole lot more we could have done today, we had a fantastic day,” said LSU head coach Pat Henry. ‘To win seven events and post the kind of times and marks we did today was incredible. I think we had a great weekend overall.”
The Lady Tigers opened the track events by shattering the SEC championship and stadium records in the 4×100-meter relay. The foursome of Bianca Rockett, Lolo Jones, Stephanie Durst and Muna Lee circled the oval in a time of 43.06, bettering the previous mark of 43.19 set by LSU in 1996.
The mark improved upon LSU’s previous NCAA-leading mark of 43.71. The time is third on the 2002 outdoor world list and is the fastest time by a Lady Tiger relay squad since the 1998 NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Moments later the Tigers finished second in the men’s 4×100-meter relay as Tennessee grabbed the title with an NCAA-leading time of 38.66.
Paul Thompson substituted for Walter Davis on the opening leg and joined with Robert Parham, Pete Coley and Bennie Brazell to clock a time of 39.41.
As the individual track events began, LSU began to heat up.
Lolo Jones gave the Lady Tigers their sixth champion in nine years in the 100-meter hurdles, as the sophomore All-American blasted out of the blocks and registered a personal best time of 13.01.
Ranysha LeBlanc finished fourth, while Zamyal Jackson and Tiffany Robinson finished sixth and eighth respectively as the Lady Tigers scored 19 points in the event.
As the 100-meter final approached, Muna Lee looked to defend the first of two titles on the day. Lee began with an easy defense of her 100-meter title in a stadium record time of 11.19, besting runner-up Aleen Bailey of South Carolina who came in at 11.38.
Stephanie Durst placed fourth in a time of 11.49.
But Lee was unsuccessful in defending both her titles, as Durst pulled the upset and took the 200-meter title in a stadium record time of 22.48, the third fastest time in LSU history, moving her past former Olympians D’Andre Hill and Esther Jones. Lee finished third in a time of 22.82.
Ronetta Smith finished third in the women’s 400-meter dash with a time of 52.19, just off her season best. Smith was in the pack with eventual winner LaShinda Demus and runner-up Demtria Washington, both of South Carolina, as the trio headed down the homestretch. Demus and Washington separated themselves from Smith over the final 40 meters, as the senior All-American matched her third place finish at the SEC Indoor meet.
On the men’s side, Lueroy Colquhoun shattered his own school record, as well as the stadium record, becoming the first LSU man since 1996 two win the SEC title in the 400-meter hurdles, while Bennie Brazell finished second.
Running out of lane seven, Colquhoun took his race out extremely fast and led at the 200-meter mark and fought off Brazell to win in a time of 48.91, bettering his previous school record of 49.26. Brazell’s time of 49.10 was the second fastest in school history.
Pete Coley came up with a huge breakthrough and posted his first sub-45 second time, but came up just short of Gary Kikhaya of Tennessee for the men’s 400-meter title. Coley ran a well-conceived race and was where he wanted to be at the 200-meter point.
Coley pulled even with Kikhaya with 30 meters remaining, but Kikhaya regained the lead and won in a time of 44.86, while Coley finished at 44.89. Coley’s time ranks third in school history, just behind the 44.87 posted by Alleyne Francique last month.
The Tigers closed out competition with a second place finish in the 4×400-meter relay.
In the field, Davis became only the second man in SEC Outdoor Championship history to sweep the horizontal jumps, as a day after winning the long jump title, he added the triple jump crown.
The 2000 Olympian came up with a winning effort of 54-6 1/2 on his second attempt of the competition. Davis suffered soreness in his left knee after Saturday’s long jump, however, and passed on each of his attempts in the final. Had his competitors passed him at any point he would have taken another attempt, but never needed to as his mark stood.
Traun Smith finished fourth while Willie Bradley placed eighth as the Tigers picked up 16 points in the event.
Nicole Toney made it a clean sweep of the triple jump titles for LSU, taking the women’s title with a mark of 43-7, the fifth title in the event for the Lady Tigers in the last seven years. Andria Booker finished fourth with a mark of 41-4 1/2, while Ashley Gardner finished eighth.
Despite not competing in the decathlon, Claston Bernard made his presence felt elsewhere. Bernard finished second in the high jump with a personal best mark of 7-2 1/4.
In other field event finals, Blake Theriot finished third in the javelin, while Keith Nunez and Luke Kinnard finished sixth and seventh respectively.
In the women’s javelin, Maria Romero placed fourth while Neely Falgout finished seventh.
A handful of LSU athletes who are close to the NCAA provisional qualifying standard but not yet there, will travel to Georgia Tech next weekend for a last chance meet. Those athletes who are already qualified will be off until LSU hosts the NCAA Outdoor Championships from May 29-June 1.
Team Scoring
Men
1, Tennessee, 147. 2, Arkansas, 133. 3, Florida, 107. 4, LSU, 105. 5, Georgia, 84 1/2. 6, Alabama, 58. 7, South Carolina, 50 1/2. 8, Auburn, 50. 9, Mississippi State, 35. 10, Ole Miss, 25. 11, Kentucky, 23.
Women
1, South Carolina, 148. 2, Arkansas, 138. 3, Florida, 133. 4, LSU, 114. 5, Auburn, 88. 6, Tennessee, 52 1/2. 7, Georgia, 49. 8, Kentucky, 27. 9, Alabama, 20. 10, Vanderbilt, 19 1/2. 11, Ole Miss, 17. 12, Mississippi State, 13.
LSU’s SEC Champions
Men
Walter Davis, triple jump (54-6 1/2)
Lueroy Colquhoun, 400h (48.91)
Women
Muna Lee, 100m (11.19)
Stephanie Durst, 200m (22.48)
Lolo Jones, 100h (13.01)
Nicole Toney, triple jump (43-7); 4×100-meter relay (43.