The LSU men’s and women’s track and field teams placed second and first, respectively, at the Jim Click Shootout at Roy P. Drachman Stadium in Tucson, Arizona on Saturday.
The women’s team finished at the top of the standings after recording 169 team points to outlast the University of Southern California in second place with 144 points and third-placed Arizona with 89 points.
“With it being our Spring Break week back home, we were able to spend much of our week here in Arizona preparing for this competition,” said LSU track and field coach Dennis Shaver in a news release. “With what we saw today, you have to say that our athletes approached it with the right mindset to improve as a team and take another step forward this season.”
The Lady Tigers strung together impressive performances in the sprints Saturday, and the 4×100-meter relay team ran the fastest time in the NCAA this season. The team, comprised of sophomore sprinter Rushell Harvey, freshman sprinter Aleia Hobbs, sophomore sprinter Jada Martin and freshman sprinter Mikiah Brisco took the tape with a winning time of 43.23 seconds, more than half a second faster than second-placed USC’s 43.79, setting a new Drachman Stadium record.
Martin also ran in the 200-meter dash, during which she set a lifetime-best time of 23.00 seconds to claim the event title and catapult herself to No. 5 on the NCAA top performances list.
Sophomore distance runner Morgan Schuetz claimed the final running event title for the women as she finished in first place in the 800-meter dash with a new outdoor-best time of 2:06.86.
The Lady Tigers also submitted two event winning bids in the throws, with senior thrower Tori Bliss’ school record-breaking performance in the shot put. Fresh off a silver-medal finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships, Bliss broke the LSU outdoor record in the shot put with a season-opening throw of 57 feet, five and a half inches.
LSU had a strong presence on the javelin leaderboard. Junior thrower Mayme Cook claimed the event title, while senior thrower Annie Simoneaux, junior thrower Doren Welch and sophomore thrower Alli Brasuell finished second through fourth, respectively.
The men’s team finished just 21 points behind first-place Illinois, which tallied 181 points. The Tigers’ 160 points was good enough for second place, and Arizona finished in third place with 93 points.
Senior sprinter Aaron Ernest led the Tigers in their runner-up performance, winning the event title in the 200-meter dash. Ernest emerged with the seventh-fastest time in the nation after clocking in at 20.56 seconds.
Ernest returned to the track, anchoring the 4×100-meter relay team to a first-place finish. The team of senior hurdler Joshua Thompson, senior sprinter Vernon Norwood, sophomore sprinter Tremayne Acy and Ernest turned in a Drachman Stadium-record time, as Ernest crossed the line at 38.95.
Thompson also raced in a second event, finishing in third place in the 110-meter hurdles, while sophomore hurdler Jordan Moore claimed first place with a time of 14.04.
Senior thrower Rodney Brown, senior pole vaulter Andreas Duplantis and sophomore jumper Jonathan Pitt also claimed event titles for the Tigers.
In all, the Tigers and Lady Tigers combined to break one school record, set 18 personal-bests and post 10 clips ranking among the NCAA’s top 10.
“I’m proud of the professionalism they showed coming here to compete at a very high level,” Shaver said.
The Tigers and Lady Tigers will compete on their home track this weekend for the LSU Alumni Gold meet, starting at 9:00 a.m. April 18 at Bernie Moore Track Stadium in Baton Rouge.