The LSU track and field teams made outstanding efforts at the 2016 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships on June 8-11, including title wins and career bests.
The Lady Tigers grabbed the 4×100-meter relay title at the Nationals’ finale on Saturday after qualifying with a second place finish in the preliminary round Thursday. They crossed the finish line with a time of 42.65 seconds.
Sophomore Mikiah Brisco, freshman Kortnei Johnson, and juniors Jada Martin and Rushell Harvey made up the relay team.
Brisco also walked away with fifth place in the 100-meter final in 11.13 seconds.
Junior Jada Martin, freshman Rachel Misher and junior Travia Jones joined senior Chanice Chase to place fourth in the women’s 4×400-meter relay with a time of 3 minutes, 29.82 seconds.
“I’m happy with the result. I think everybody did really well today,” Chase said in a press release. “It’s my senior year, and I’m so thankful that I came out a much better athlete than when I got here. I thank all the coaches, trainers and everybody for what they do for us. I’m just happy.”
Chase also earned career-best times in in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 12.90 seconds to finish in sixth place, and in fifth place in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 54.94 seconds
Junior Morgan Schuetz finished in seventh place in the 800-meter run, while junior Rebekah Wales finished sixth in the javelin final Thursday.
“Chanice has been such a big part of our team this season, especially in the championship meets,” LSU coach Dennis Shaver said. “We’re certainly going to miss what she’s given our team. We have a great group coming back and a great recruiting class coming in, so we’re already looking forward to 2017.”
The LSU men’s track and field team was not far behind.
At the NCAA men’s final on June 10, the Tigers gained victories in both the 4×100-meter relay and 4×400 meter relay.
Freshman Jaron Flournoy joined juniors Renard Howell, Tremayne Acy joined and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake to make up the 4×100 relay team.
Although the victory was a great addition to LSU’s overall score, Mitchell-Blake ended the 4×100 meter relay with a cramp in his hamstring. He later scratched from the men’s 200-meter final as a result of his injury after finishing the 100-meter race in the No. 8 spot with a time of 12.05 seconds.
“I wouldn’t say that we would have won had Nate [Mitchell-Blake] not gotten hurt, but it would have certainly made it interesting,” Shaver said. “I knew at that point without Nate we had to win every time we lined up on the track. I’m just disappointed for our guys. They’ve worked so hard all year long to get to this point, and it’s just unfortunate to see it end like that.”
Nonetheless, Howell finished in fourth place with a time of 20.55 seconds in the 200-meter final event.
Despite the minor setback, junior LaMar Bruton, junior Michael Cherry, senior Cyril Grayson and senior Fitzroy Dunkley continued to persevere as they placed first in the 4×400-meter final relay with a winning time of 3 minutes and 0.69 seconds.
Cherry and Dunkley gained silver and bronze medal finishes at Friday’s 400-meter dash final after qualifying in Wednesday’s preliminaries. Dunkley placed second with a time of 45.06 seconds, and Cherry finished third with a time of 45.11 seconds.
In junior Jordan Moore’s first national outdoor final, he finished in eighth place in the 110 hurdle event with a time of 13.88 seconds.
