Mile Relay Impresses on Day 2 of LSU Relays

BATON ROUGE - With a name like the LSU Tiger Relays, fans have come to expect fireworks on the track during LSU's home opener each outdoor season, and that's exactly what they received with the final event of this year's meet as the Tigers set an NCAA-leading time in the 4x400-meter relay.

After earning All-America honors with a third-place finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships just two weeks ago, the Tigers carried that momentum into their first race of the outdoor campaign.

While running with a quartet of senior Armanti Hayes, junior Gabriel Mvumvure, sophomore Robert Simmonsand sophomore Ade Alleyne-Forte, the Tigers cruised to the finish line with an NCAA best of 3 minutes, 5.80 seconds to stake their claim among the nation's elite relay teams outdoors.

LSU's performance on Saturday is a more than three-second improvement in the 4x400-meter relay from its time in the final event of the LSU Tiger Relays a year ago.

What's even more impressive is that the Tigers ran 3:05.80 without two members of the relay that placed third at the NCAA Indoor meet in senior Richard Jonesand freshman Caleb Williams. Mvumvure led the way while running a 46.04-second split in his first mile relay appearance of the year, while Hayes (46.15), Simmons (46.79) and Alleyne-Forte (46.82) were also impressive in their outdoor debut.

"That was a great time in this kind of wind. I was actually a little surprised," said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. "It was good to see them compete through the finish line. There's still a couple more seconds out there for us, and we're going to need that to score some points at NCAAs this season, especially with how other teams performed during the indoor season and their potential outdoors.

"I just thought this was a great meet overall. We had a chance to put many of our athletes in a competitive situation that is going to pay dividends as we head to Texas next weekend."

While the Tigers went out with a bang in the 4x400-meter relay, senior Josh Dominguez provided a spark in the open events with an NCAA-leading performance to capture the pole vault title.

Dominguez, who did not compete for the Tigers indoors while nursing a hamstring injury, cleared the bar at 17 feet, 7 ¼ inches to set a new lifetime personal best and establish himself as a All-America candidate with the top mark in the country through two weeks of the outdoor season.

In fact, Dominguez set two personal records during Saturday's competition with clearances at 17-5 ½ and 17-7 ¼ on his first attempt at each height. He entered the meet with a previous personal best of 17-5 set as a sophomore at the 2008 NCAA Mideast Regional Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., earning him third place in the competition and a berth into the NCAA Outdoor Championships.

"The wind was a little tricky," Dominguez said. "Sometimes you catch a good straight tailwind and others you catch a tough crosswind. I just waited for it to calm down. I wanted a small tailwind and I got it. It's a great sign for the rest of the season that I was able to jump this well today. I'm happy with it."

The Tigers claimed two other event titles on Saturday with sophomore Garrek Thompson winning the 800 meters with a time of 1:51.96 and the 4x200-meter relay taking the crown with a time of 1:24.89. They also won the 1,600-meter sprint medley relay title Friday for a total of three relay crowns on the weekend.

Other notable performances for the Tigers on the final day of competition at this year's LSU Tiger Relays were a wind-legal PR of 52-0 by freshman Damar Forbes in the triple jump and a wind-aided run of 10.35 by seniorJerel Hill in a runner-up finish in the 100-meter dash.

The Lady Tigers also enjoyed tremendous success in the relay events on Saturday while sweeping titles in the 4x100, 4x200 and 4x400 relays in addition to their win in the sprint medley relay on Friday night.

After qualifying for the final with a time of 43.68 in Friday's preliminary round, the Lady Tiger foursome of senior Samantha Henry, senior Kristina Davis, freshman Takeia Pinckney and junior Kenyanna Wilsoncarried the stick around the track in 44.01 in windy conditions en route to an easy win in the 4x100 finals. Henry, Davis and Pinckney then returned to the track to help LSU win the 4x200 relay in 1:33.32.

Like the men, the women wrapped up this year's LSU Tiger Relays with a victory in the 4x400 relay with the foursome of sophomore Cassandra Tate, senior Kayann Thompson, freshman Siedda Herbert and freshman Latoya McDermott racing to the finish line in 3:41.19.

After running the 4x100 and 4x200 relays, Henry returned to the track for a third time on Saturday for the 100-meter final that featured seven Lady Tigers. She clocked 11.14 seconds in the race to beat Wilson (11.25) and Pinckney (11.30) to the tape, but the wind was over the allowable limit with a tailwind of 4.2.

A trio of Lady Tigers took home individual championships in the field events during Saturday's action as juniorMelissa Ogbourne led the way with her victory in the triple jump after recording a wind-aided mark of 43-5 ¾ on her sixth and final attempt of the competition. Ogbourne posted a top wind-legal jump of 42-8 ¼ on her first attempt of the preliminary round.

Also winning field event titles for the Lady Tigers were sophomore Rachel Laurent in the pole vault (13-9 ¼) and fellow sophomore Samia Stokes in the discus throw (163-11).

Other Lady Tigers to shine during Saturday's action include junior Tenaya Jones in the 100-meter hurdles (13.49) and junior Brittany Hall (2:06.90) and freshman Charlene Lipsey (2:07.73) in the 800 meters.

The Tigers and Lady Tigers return to action next weekend with their annual appearance in the 83rd Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays scheduled to run April 1-3 at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin. The teams head to Miami, Fla., for the Miami Elite Invitational on April 10 before returning to Baton Rouge on Saturday, April 17, to host the LSU Alumni Gold at the Bernie Moore Track Stadium.

This year's LSU Alumni Gold meet will serve as a celebration of rich history and tradition of the LSU track and field program as the team will hold its inaugural LSU Track & Field Team Awards and Alumni Recognition Banquet on Friday, April 16, beginning at 6:30 p.m. CT at the Crowne Plaza Baton Rouge.

Alumni and their guests who wish to attend this historic event can submit their RSVP to the LSU track & field coaching staff today by completing this online form.