The LSU track and field team participated in the 2022 NCAA Outdoor Championships that took place Wednesday through Saturday, June 8-11, in Eugene, Oregon. LSU had the second most entries in the country with a total of 25: 14 women and 11 men.
The LSU women’s track and field team closed out the 2022 season with a fourth-place team finish as the Tigers scored a total of 39 team points. Alia Armstrong won the first national title of her career.
On a wet track, Armstrong rose to the occasion on the national stage with a winning time of 12.57 in the 100-meter hurdles. Her title is LSU’s first in the 100-meter hurdles at the NCAA meet since Joyce Bates did so in 2000 with a time of 12.85.
“Surprisingly this was my first time ever running in the rain,” Armstrong mentioned after her win. “Honestly, I just locked in and got the job done. I knew everybody was running in the same conditions as me. “This (win) means the absolute world to me. I’ve been dreaming of this moment since I was a baby. The fact that I made it and made my mom proud, that’s all that matters.”
Favour Ofili was LSU’s highest point scorer of the meet as she accounted for 13.25 of LSU’s 39 team points. Individually, Ofili claimed silver in the 200 meters with a time of 22.05 and fifth in the 100 meters with a readout of 11.17. In the women’s high jump, Nyagoa Bayak cleared a bar of 6’ (1.83 meters). This clearance earned her a three-way tie for sixth place.
Lisa Gunnarsson closed out her LSU career with a bronze finish. She cleared a must make bar of 14’11 (4.55 meters) to win a medal as she moved up from fourth to third after the clearance. She’s now a seven-time All-American and has left a legacy as the unquestioned best vaulter in school history.
Morgan Smalls was the first women’s LSU athlete to score points at the national meet. She used a jump of 20’ 8” (6.30 meters) on her first three attempts to place herself inside the top nine spots and earn an additional three jumps. It was a fifth-round leap of 21’ 2.75” (6.47 meters) that launched her up the leaderboard into a sixth-place finish. This sixth-place finish earned LSU three points in the event.
The women’s 4×100 meter relay of Alia Armstrong, Favour Ofili, Tionna Beard-Brown and Thelma Davies qualified for the final with a season-best of 42.59 to win the race. In the final for the women’s 4×100 meter relay, the quartet circled the track in a time of 42.62 for a fourth-place finish and five points. The final scorer on the women’s side was Katy-Ann McDonald in the 800 meters. In her final race as a Tiger, she placed eighth with a time of 2:03.57.
The LSU men’s track and field team scored 31 points at the 2022 NCAA Championships to earn a sixth-place team finish. This sixth-place finish marks the 24th straight year that the LSU men have finished in the top 10 at the NCAA outdoor meet.
Sean ‘Squirrel’ Burrell came into the meet as the reigning NCAA champion in the 400-meter hurdles. Entering the race, he was not the favorite to win this year because his best time of the year was outside the top 10 of the national rankings.
Burrell ran the first half of the race in about fifth or sixth place before activating his patented charge at the end of the race. He went from fourth to first on the final straightaway and claimed his second straight NCAA title in the event to become the first man to win back-to-back titles in the event since 2017. His time of 48.70 won by a large margin and moves him into the top 10 in the world rankings for the 2022 season.
“It’s all about perseverance. Had some injuries throughout the season. Lots of long days and long nights,” Burrell said after his winning effort. “Every day at practice I just kept chipping away, and my coaches kept pushing me. “Without God, this wouldn’t be possible. So grateful. I always know my finish is going to be strong, but I need to be in the race. I saw him on the inside of me and I told myself I had to keep going, but I couldn’t panic. As everyone was slowing down, I was picking up speed.”
Eric Edwards Jr. finished off his strong 2022 season in the 110-meter hurdles where he claimed silver. He ran a time of 13.15 to finish as the national runner-up behind world leader Trey Cunningham of Florida State.
His time was special for several reasons. It made him the fifth-fastest performer in collegiate history over the distance. Secondly, it moved him up to the No. 4 slot on the 2022 world leaderboard, and he now must be considered as a possible candidate for a top-three finish at the USATF Championships later this month. Finally, his time bettered his position on the all-time LSU list in the No. 2 spot from 13.28 to 13.15.
In his first-ever NCAA outdoor meet, freshman Apalos Edwards leapt to a huge personal best of 53’ 9.25” (16.39 meters) in the triple jump on his first attempt. He was unable to improve that mark and finished in third place. LSU’s final scorer on the men’s side was Da’Marcus Fleming with a time of 10.20, which placed eighth in the 100 meters.
LSU’s track and field team showed why LSU is considered one of the best track and field programs in the country but had hopes of winning the 2022 NCAA championship title considering the number of entries that the team had.
