Senior thrower Rodney Brown highlighted LSU’s efforts at the Penn Relay Carnival with his second consecutive men’s discus title as the men’s and women’s track and field teams turned in several personal bests and winning performances during the three-day event.
Senior thrower Tori Bliss and sophomore jumper Nataliyah Friar put the Lady Tigers on the board early Thursday with titles in the shot put and long jump. Bliss unleashed a throw of 56 feet, 5.75 inches to become the second Lady Tiger in history to win the shot put title at the famed Philadelphia meet.
As Bliss was on the podium, Friar raced down the runway and jumped a personal-best 20 feet, 7.75 inches. She became the first Lady Tiger to claim the event championship at the Penn Relays in 22 years and joined former national champion Daphnie Saunders as the only meet champion in the event in school history.
“I’m extremely happy to get the win,” Friar said in a news release. “This weather and wind didn’t make jumping any easier for us today, but I knew that I just had to give it my all and be better than my competition. Everyone had to go through the same things in our preparation and in the competition, so you just have to battle through it.”
The women’s shuttle hurdle relay team stepped on the track Friday and extended LSU’s streak of winning a Championship of America relay title at the Penn Relays to 24 consecutive years.
Freshman jumper Danielle Phillips, junior sprinter and hurdler Chanice Chase, freshman sprinter and hurdler Mikiah Brisco and freshman hurdler Daeshon Gordon outlasted second-placed Auburn with a winning time of 54.22 seconds.
After setting the meet record in the discus and being crowned the Men’s College Individual Athlete of the Meet last season, Brown rewrote history on the final day of competition.
Brown, who entered the meet No. 1 in the nation in the discus, broke his own Penn Relays meet and school records when he unleashed a throw of 213 feet, 4 inches on his second attempt. Brown is now a perfect six-for-six in the discus this season, and he is favorite as the Tigers have one meet before the postseason.
“It’s a really big meet to throw at,” Brown said in a news release. “The fans are right there behind you in the ring. All of my teammates were here cheering me on, so that gave me confidence going in.”
Sophomore hurdler Jordan Moore followed Brown with an event title of his own. Moore qualified eighth in the 110-meter hurdles, but he turned in the fastest time in the finals as he crossed the line in 13.84 seconds, one-hundredth of a second ahead of Clemson’s Justin Johnson.
The Tigers went out on top in their last event of the weekend with a season-best time of 3 minutes, 2.61 seconds in the 4×400-meter relay race. Senior sprinter and hurdler Quincy Downing, junior sprinter Fitzroy Dunkley, senior sprinter Vernon Norwood and junior sprinter Darrell Bush finished more than two seconds ahead of second-placed Texas A&M to win LSU’s fifth Championship of America in the event.
The men’s 4×400-meter relay team gave LSU its sixth title of this year’s competition and the 70th Championship of America relay title in program history.
“It’s a great illustration of the consistency this program has shown each year we have come to the Penn Relays,” said LSU track and field coach Dennis Shaver in a news release. “It is a special meet, and our athletes take great pride in the way they represent LSU when they come here. We are proud to add to our history this week.”
You can reach Jacob Hamilton on Twitter @jhamilton_TDR.