For an NCAA-best 15th time, the LSU women’s track team sprinted away from the NCAA outdoor track and field championships with a national title. The Lady Tigers finished with a 76-62 lead against Oregon to claim LSU’s first outdoor national title since 2008. This was coach Dennis Shaver’s second national championship with the Tigers after taking the reigns from legendary former LSU coach Pat Henry in 2005. “It was a dominating kind of performance,” Shaver said. “They were in a position on Saturday to just keep pouring it on. So it is great to come away with such an impressive result.” Sprinter Kimberlyn Duncan wrapped up her stellar junior season with another highlight-reel performance. The Bowerman Award finalist for the nation’s best male and female track athlete defended her 200-meter crown (22.86) Saturday, beating Auburn’s Kai Selvon by .3. Duncan also anchored the women’s 4×100-meter relay to victory (42.75), clinching LSU’s fifth sweep of the men’s and women’s competitions in the event. No other school has ever accomplished the feat in the same season. “Coming in first place means a lot to me and the team,” Duncan said. “Our main goal was to come out and get a title, and we accomplished it.” The men’s side didn’t see quite the same level of success, but still finished second to Southeastern Conference rival Florida by a 50-48 total. “The men really had one of the best-ever championships that I have ever seen our men have,” Shaver said. “They were in the hunt right down to the last race. They bonded together as a team and really pulled for each other.” Freshman sprinter Aaron Ernest put the men’s side in position to win the title after his fifth-place finish in the 200-meter dash lifted the Tigers to second place with 37 points. However, it was senior hurdler Barrett Nugent who put the Tigers in the lead – 42-40 against Florida) – with one event left after finishing fourth in the 110-meter hurdles, an event he won a year ago in the same meet. The men’s title came down to the final event of the meet in the 4×400-meter relay. LSU’s team, consisting of freshman Quincy Downing and seniors Robert Simmons, Ade Alleyne-Forte and Riker Hylton, came in third by .6 in the 4×400-meter relay. If the Tigers had placed second in the event, they would have tied Florida for the national championship. “We definitely scored a lot more points than really anybody projected,” Shaver said. “I’m sure not many people even thought we would be here in the mix for the team title.”
 
____ Contact Mike Gegenheimer at [email protected]