Francique breaks NCAA record
The LSU track and field teams continued to break records and set themselves up for the NCAA Indoor Championships this weekend at the Southeastern Conference Championships in Fayetteville, Ark. as the women’s team finished third and the men finished fourth.
Arkansas thrived at home as its second-ranked men’s team won the title and its women’s team came in a close second to No. 3 Florida.
The two LSU teams combined to win seven events on the final day of the competition to conclude excellent personal performances.
“We got some absolutely incredible performances this weekend,” said head coach Pat Henry. “We won seven events [Sunday], broke an NCAA record, two school records and three SEC Championship records.”
The fourth-ranked men’s team dominated the 400-meter dash in both the individual and the relays behind senior All-American Alleyne Francique, who broke the NCAA record in the 400 with a time of 45.35 seconds. Andrew Pierce of Ohio St. set the previous record (45.46) last year. Francique’s previous indoor best was 46.13.
LSU sprinter Pete Coley followed Francique in second place. Together, the pair ran the two fastest times in NCAA history. Coley recorded a time of 45.37, just two one-hundredths of a second behind Francique.
The 4×400-meter relay team of Francique, Coley, Leuroy Colquhoun and Robert Parham shattered the SEC record with a time of 3:04.75. The previous record of 3:06.22 was set back in 1996 by LSU.
LSU star jumper Walter Davis failed to defend his title in the long jump by fouling in his three attempts Saturday and did not finish with a score.
“I feel terrible for Walter, I know what kind of competitor he is,” Henry said shortly after Davis’ jumps. “He’ll move past this and get ready for [the triple jump], and I’m sure this will fire him up.”
Davis did come out fired up on Sunday, just as his coach predicted and broke the 18-year-old SEC indoor record by nearly a foot, with an NCAA-leading jump of 56-feet 2 1/2 inches.
With that jump, Davis broke his own LSU indoor record (55-feet 11 3/4 inches) with the first 56-foot jump in LSU history. Eric Walder of Arkansas set the previous triple jump record (56-feet 2 inches) in 1984.
Davis became the first Tiger ever to defend his SEC title in the triple jump.
Traun Smith finished fourth in the triple jump, and with his personal best jump of 52-feet 1 inch, he became a provisional qualifier for the NCAA Championships next month.
Claston Bernard, the three-time defending SEC champion in the decathlon, participated in his first pentathlon and finished first. The senior All-American posted the third-best score in LSU history.
True freshman Matt Vincent finished sixth in the shot put with a throw of 53-feet 9 3/4 inches, just off his season best of 54-feet 3 1/2 inches.
“I don’t think there’s a lot more we could have done,” Henry said. “We got great efforts this weekend on both sides.”
On the women’s side, familiar faces continued to shine. The NCAA leader in both the 60- and 200 meter dashes, Muna Lee, became just the fourth woman in LSU history to sweep the sprints in the SEC Championships, posting scores of 7.26 seconds in the 60 and 22.91 seconds in the 200, the first sub-23 second time in LSU history.
Lolo Jones garnered her first SEC title with a 8.21-second run in the 60-meter hurdles. Jones came in third behind Lee in the 60-meter dash with a run of 7.44 seconds.
Marian Burnett became the first LSU woman to win the SEC title in the 800-meter run since Sylvia Byrdson accomplished the feat in 1989.
Senior All-American Ronetta Smith finished third in the 400-meter dash with a personal best of 52.59 seconds, the third-fastest time in LSU women’s history.
Stephanie Durst was another bright spot for the top-ranked women’s team as she finished second to Lee in the 200-meter dash with a personal best 23.04-second run and came in sixth in the 60-meter dash.
The LSU track and field teams will return to action in preparation for the NCAA Indoor Championships when they host the LSU Last Ditch at the Carl Maddox Field House this weekend.
Bryan Wideman