The LSU relay teams stole the show in their first action of the outdoor season on a windy weekend at the LSU relays as the Tigers and Lady Tigers established three new stadium records and nearly swept the relay events.
The meet marked the debut of the Mondo surface at LSU’s Bernie Moore Stadium, and if the LSU relays were at all indicative of the future, school records could be destined to fall.
The 4×200 meter relay teams were particularly impressive Saturday.
In a span of 10 minutes, two stadium records fell to the 4×200 teams, and one school record nearly perished.
“This is a great start for us,” said coach Dennis Shaver in a press release. “I’m proud of our teams and the way we competed this weekend as a group. We’re very much looking forward to another great competition next Saturday.”
The Lady Tigers were the first on the blocks and easily dispatched the opposing schools in the race, beating second place Jackson State by nearly six seconds. Their mark of 1:32.33 beat the former stadium record by more than .3 seconds.
The Lady Tigers’ record-setting relay team consisted of juniors Jonique Day and Semoy Hackett and sophomores Latoya McDermott and Kimberlyn Duncan.
But the Tigers 4×200 relay team — who lined up in the first heat after the women’s 4×200 meter final — came close to breaking a 16-year-old university record.
When senior anchor Gabriel Mvumvure crossed the finish line, the Bernie Moore Stadium board flashed the team’s time: 1:21.00.
The time was adjusted to 1:20.99, which obliterated the former stadium record by 1.29 seconds — an eternity in a sprint event.
“We did a pretty good job on our exchanges this weekend. I think that was really important for us today,” Mvumvure said. “I think we could have actually ran faster in the 4×200. It was tough for us on the second and anchor legs running into that strong of a headwind.”
The mark was also just .14 seconds shy of the LSU record set in 1995.
While the stadium records were falling like dominoes, junior All-American Rachel Laurent added a school record to her resumé in the women’s pole vault.
The event began at 2 p.m. Saturday, and Laurent remained on the runway until 4:30, as she continually vaulted over the mark. Laurent’s final mark of 14-2 1/2 cleared the school record in the event by an inch.
The flags were whipping for much of Saturday, leading to some times being thrown out because of an unfair wind advantage. But the wind was blowing across the track during the relay events, allowing the times to be wind-legal when ranking them nationally.
 
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Contact Luke Johnson at [email protected]