It was like something out of a movie.
LSU was down but still had a chance to come back. All it needed was a spark, and it seemed to find that spark to change the face of its season.
It sounds like the storyline of the 2008 LSU baseball team, or even the 2007 football team. But this tale also fits another nationally prominent LSU program – the women’s track and field team.
At the NCAA Outdoor Championships on Saturday in Des Moines, Iowa, LSU was down, 59-31, to Arizona State with five events left.
But the Lady Tigers still had plenty of scoring opportunities, with five entries in the final five events.
“I made a point to tell each of them to just be calm and relaxed,” said LSU coach Dennis Shaver in a news release. “I was confident that they would pull it out.”
After second- and sixth-place finishes by junior Nickiesha Wilson and senior Jessica Ohanaja in the 100-meter hurdles, LSU tied Arizona State at 59 entering the final event.
The Lady Tigers needed to finish ahead of the Lady Sun Devils in the 4×400-meter relay to take home the NCAA crown.
LSU more than delivered, finishing second in the relay. Arizona State finished fifth, giving LSU a 67-63 victory.
“I’ve been around for a lot of national championships, but this one is special because it’s my first as a head coach,” Shaver said. “It’s great to see all of [the athletes’] hard work pay off. That’s the most satisfying thing, especially for our seniors who went out as national champions for the first time.”
Senior Brooklynn Morris got the Lady Tigers started in the relay with a 52.35-second leadoff leg, then handed off to senior Kelly-Ann Baptiste.
Baptiste had run in the 4×400-meter relay only once Saturday. She had also run in eight races during the championships.
But Wilson, a regular on LSU’s 4×400 meter relay, who was nursing a sore hamstring and coming off her race in the 100-meter hurdles, was unavailable.
Shaver turned to Baptiste, who won the 100-meter dash Friday.
Baptiste delivered, running the second-fastest leg of the relay at 51.83 seconds.
“Coach Shaver told me the whole season that if the team ever needed me that he would put me on it,” Baptiste said in a news release. “I was definitely prepared for it.”
Baptiste was well ahead of Arizona State runner Jordan Durham when she handed off to sophomore LaTavia Thomas.
Thomas pulled into first with a 52.47-second split before handing off to senior Deonna Lawrence, who finished with a blistering 51.68-second anchor leg to take the team title.
The LSU men were not as fortunate, finishing tied for second with Auburn.
Florida State won its third straight men’s title, with LSU finishing second all three times.
LSU simply ran out of chances against Florida State on Saturday. The Tigers had only two scoring opportunities on the final day while the Seminoles had four.
“We really had to have the perfect meet because Florida State just has too much firepower when they step onto the track,” Shaver said. “We did about all we could do to stay in the hunt, but their team was just too much for us.”
But the men’s team did not finish without any bright spots on the weekend.
The men’s 4×100-meter relay team won its seventh national title in the event with a time of 38.42 seconds.
Sophomore Armanti Hayes, senior Richard Thompson, freshman Gabriel Mvumvure and junior Trindon Holliday finished with the third-fastest time in school history and a Drake Stadium record.
Thompson led the Tigers’ sprint efforts. He won the 100-meter dash championship Friday and took second place in the 200-meter dash Saturday.
“This was a great way to go out in my last 100-meter race at LSU,” Thompson said. “I finished ahead of guys that I have a lot of respect for in this sport, and I feel very fortunate to come out on top.”
Holliday, the NCAA runner-up in the 100-meter dash in 2007, finished third behind Thompson and Clemson’s Travis Padgett in the 100-meter dash.
Thompson and Baptiste swept the 100-meter dash titles, marking the first time athletes from the same school swept the short sprint championships in the indoor and outdoor seasons in the same year.
The duo won the 60-meter dash titles at the NCAA Indoor Championships on March 14 and 15.
But Baptiste had more luck in the end, garnering a team championship to go along with her individual title.
The Lady Tigers’ outdoor championship is their 25th national title overall and 14th outdoor championship.
LSU won 11 national titles in a row from 1987 to 1997.
—-Contact Robert Stewart at [email protected]