LSU women add to storied history
Sherman Allsop anchors LSU's 4x100 meter relay team to a winning time of 38.38 seconds at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Des Moines, Iowa, on Saturday.
DES MOINES, Iowa — When the LSU women’s track and field team captured the title in the NCAA Outdoor Championships on Saturday at Drake Stadium, the Lady Tigers added to a storied history that began 25 years ago this week.
Wednesday, which was the first day of this year’s meet, marked the 25th anniversary of the first NCAA outdoor title for the Lady Tigers.
Running on its home turf at Bernie Moore Track Stadium, LSU claimed the 1987 championship by a 62-53 margin over Alabama — starting a streak that saw the Lady Tigers win a record 11 consecutive national titles through the 1997 season.
In addition, the LSU women claimed titles in 2000, 2003 and 2008.
The win Saturday gave them a total of 15 outdoor titles and pushed their overall total to 26 national championships counting indoor titles.
It was also the 32nd all-time NCAA title for the school as the men have won six championships — four outdoors and six indoors.
Consistent Tigers
While they haven’t claimed an NCAA outdoor title since 2002, which they also won at home, LSU’s men completed another successful season when they finished second to Florida.
The Tigers had a chance to win the meet when they took a two-point lead over Florida into the final event — the 4x400-meter relay.
Needing to finish one spot ahead of Florida for a win, or finish no worse than one spot behind the Gators for a tie, LSU ran third while Florida won.
Their runner-up finish in the team race marked the 11th time in the past 12 NCAA meets that LSU has finished in the top five — including four second-place efforts. Their worst finish in that 12-year span was sixth in 2010.
Ring me
LSU senior Keyth Talley was all smiles after the Tigers won the 4x100 relay Saturday in 38.38 seconds, the third-fastest time in school history.
Talley, the son of former Alabama All-American hurdler Keith Talley, ran the third leg on the relay and will receive a championship ring along with teammates Barrett Nugent, Aaron Ernest and Shermund Allsop.
“I can tell my dad when I go home that I have a ring now,” said Keyth Talley, whose father won NCAA hurdles titles in 1986 (outdoors) and ’87 (indoors). “He always kids me about him having a championship ring. But I know he’s going to be proud.”
Historic run
With a victory in the 200 meters on Saturday, LSU’s Kimberlyn Duncan put her name in the NCAA record books with four straight titles at that distance.
Duncan swept the titles at the 2011 NCAA meets and repeated this year to become the first athlete to do that in back-to-back years at that distance. She won in a time of 22.86 seconds while running into a stiff headwind.
Louisiana connections
Only two athletes from state schools other than LSU competed Saturday.
The University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s Jasmine Manuel, a Hammond native who finished fourth in the triple jump to earn All-American honors at the NCAA indoor meet in March, had a leap of 42 feet, 3/4 inches but didn’t make the final.
Also, ULL shot putter Albert Fournette didn’t advance to the final with a best of 61-0.
Next year
After a two-year run at Drake University, the NCAA Championships go back to Eugene, Ore., and the University of Oregon for the next two years.
The 2013 meet will be held June 5-8 at Hayward Field, which will host this year’s U.S. Olympic Trials from June 21-July 1.