AUBURN, Ala. – The LSU track and field team closed out the final day of action at the SEC Outdoor Championships on Saturday, hosted by Auburn at the Hutsell-Rosen Track. After a full week of competition, the LSU finished in eighth place with 48 points, while the women finished ninth with 38 points.
One of the longest ongoing traditions in collegiate track & field is LSU winning relays and on Saturday they did it again, and again.
The day closed with an LSU-record performance in the men’s 4×400-meter relay from the team of Amal Glasgow, Shakeem McKay, Grant Buckmiller and Malachi Austin. For just the second time in program history the Tigers had a sub-3 minute relay as the team clocked 2:58.47 to win. The time has much significance as it moves LSU up to No. 5 on the all-time collegiate performance list and No. 1 in the NCAA for this season.
LSU rolled out a new women’s 4×100 squad in the order of Athaleyha Hinckson, Tima Godbless, Aniyah Bigam, and Shawnti Jackson. The squad got the final handoff to Jackson at an even pace with the rest of the field and there was no coming back for the rest of the conference as she took the final 100 meters by storm and closed the Tigers to win in a time of 42.31 seconds. The time of 42.31 seconds makes the squad the No. 4 group in LSU history and the No. 2 relay in the NCAA this season.
On the men’s side, the lineup of Jeremiah Walker, Jaiden Reid, Shakeem McKay and Joshua Caleb finished with silver in their most impressive performance of the season after weeks of rotating new sprinters in and out. Caleb caught Tennessee and helped the squad to a time of 38.35 seconds, which ranks No. 7 in LSU history and No. 2 in the NCAA this season.
Shawnti Jackson came back later in the night to add more points to LSU’s score as she finished with silver in the women’s 200-meter final. She clocked a personal-best time of 22.33 seconds (+0.8 m/s) in just her second 200m final of the year. Jackson’s time improves her No. 8 spot in LSU history from her previous season-best time of 22.35 seconds.
The scoring and podium visits kicked off on Saturday with sophomore Princesse Hyman in the women’s discus throw. For the first time in her short career, she finished top three at the SEC Championships with a throw of 58.37 meters (191-6) on her second throw of the day. Hyman earned bronze after entering this meet ranked fourth in the conference, scoring six points for LSU.
Also scoring in women’s discus was redshirt sophomore Leah Acosta. Acosta reached 54.77 meters (179-8) on her fourth throw of the afternoon to finish eighth and score a single points.
A day after tying the Barbadian-national record and recording a new PR of 12.88 seconds, Adeyah Brewster came to the track with more to prove on Saturday. Brewster, looking smooth as ever, closed in on bronze with sole possession of the national record and a new PR of 12.86 seconds (+0.4 m/s).
On the men’s side of the short hurdles, senior Matthew Sophia closed his final SEC appearance with a sixth-place finish to score three points for LSU. Sophia was unable to cleanly go over the hurdles throughout much of the race but was able to keep some control and clock the time of 13.64 seconds (+1.0 m/s).
The men’s 400-meter squad impressed the country yesterday as they managed to get three Tigers to the SEC final. On Saturday the group managed to finish sixth through eighth to score six points. Sophomore Amal Glasgow finished sixth with the time of 45.52 seconds, junior Grant Buckmiller finished seventh with the time of 45.66 seconds, and freshman Malachi Austin took eighth with the time of 45.72 seconds.
In the men’s 100 meter, junior Jaiden Reid took on his second event of the afternoon and finished seventh overall. Reid scored two points in the event and clocked a time of 10.14 seconds (-0.2 m/s).
Later in the night Reid came back for his third and final event of the as the men’s 200-meter final featured him and Jeremiah Walker. Reid finished fifth to score four points with a season-best time of 20.29 seconds (+0.5 m/s), while Walker finished seventh to score two points with a time of 20.50 seconds.
The LSU women’s 4×400-meter relay closed out the women’s side of the day with a seventh-place finish and a time of 3:27.64. The squad of Keliza Smith, Rafiatu Nuhu, Kennedi Burks and Skyler Franklin tallied two points for LSU with that performance.
Head Coach Dennis Shaver’s Notables
Micaela Villarreal ran a 5000m PR of 16:34.49, which ranks No. 7 in LSU history.
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