LOS ANGELES – A historic victory in the 800 meters by reigning NCAA Indoor champion Natoya Goule and a sweep of high jump and triple jump titles with a personal best by junior Lynnika Pitts led the Lady Tigers to a dual-meet sweep of UCLA and TCU on Saturday action at the Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner-Kersee Invitational held at Drake Stadium.
Goule broke LSU’s 9-year-old school record in her outdoor debut in the 800 meters for the Lady Tigers as she cruised to victory with an NCAA-leading and world-leading run of 2 minutes, 1.18 seconds.
Pitts won both events in which she was entered while jumping simultaneously in both the high jump and triple jump during Saturday’s action at Drake Stadium. Pitts not only cleared a lifetime best of 5 feet, 10 inches in winning the high jump, but she also jumped a wind-legal 40-4 ¼ in her only attempt in the triple jump to complete the sweep of event titles.
Pitts also cracked LSU’s all-time rankings as her lifetime PR of 5-10 in winning the high jump tied for the No. 10 spot on the school’s all-time outdoor performance list in the event.
Their effort helped lead the Lady Tigers to a 93-69 victory over UCLA and a 109-44 victory over TCU in their double dual meet as part of this year’s Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner-Kersee Invitational. The Tigers claimed an 85-56 win over TCU while dropping a 106-56 decision to UCLA for a split of the men’s dual meets during the competition.
With Saturday’s performance, the Lady Tigers run their record to a perfect 4-0 in women’s dual-meet competition between the indoor and outdoor seasons in 2013.
“It was important for us to come out here and compete well as a team and do the very best we could to win the dual meets, but we also wanted to come out here and improve in some areas that’ll help us in the NCAA meets. That’s what it’s all about at the end of the day,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “I feel like we’re a little bit better as a team than we were when we got here just two days ago.”
Goule stole the show with her performance as she has now set a school record in each of her last two 800-meter races for the Lady Tigers. She won the NCAA Indoor crown on March 9 with an indoor school record run of 2:02.00 before claiming LSU’s outdoor mark with a season-opening time of 2:01.18 to move to the top of the NCAA and World rankings this spring.
Goule, who entered the meet with a previous outdoor PR of 2:01.45, broke former NCAA Outdoor champion Neisha Bernard-Thomas’ 9-year-old outdoor school record of 2:01.32 set during the 2004 season.
NCAA Indoor bronze medalist Charlene Lipsey finished runner-up to Goule in Saturday’s 800-meter final as she opened her outdoor season in the event with a run of 2:05.58 for the NCAA’s No. 7-ranked time in 2013.
Another NCAA Indoor champion making her outdoor debut at the Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner-Kersee Invitational on Saturday afternoon was Lady Tiger senior Kimberlyn Duncan, who won her first 200-meter race of the spring with a wind-legal 23.26 (+1.6) to move into the Top 10 of the NCAA rankings for 2013. Duncan posted the NCAA’s No. 6-ranked performance under all conditions as she opens the defense of her NCAA crown she has won outdoors in each of the last two seasons. She already won her third-straight NCAA Indoor title in the 200 meters this year.
Junior Jasmin Stowers was also dominant in winning the women’s 100-meter hurdles with the fastest wind-legal performance in the NCAA and the second-fastest wind-legal time in the world this season. After posting a wind-aided seasonal-best of 12.88 for third place at the Texas Relays last weekend, Stowers ran a wind-legal 13.07 (+1.4) to take the title on Saturday for her second victory in three finals this spring.
Fellow junior Nikita Tracey also built upon her outstanding performance at the Texas Relays as she ran a seasonal best in the 400-meter hurdles for the third time in four races on Saturday. Tracey slashed almost half of a second from her previous best in 2013 with her run of 57.35 for the runner-up spot to UCLA’s Turquoise Thompson (56.16) in the collegiate competition.
Tracey cracked the Top 5 in the NCAA rankings with the No. 4-ranked performance nationally this season. She also moved up two spots into the No. 6 position on LSU’s all-time performance list in the 400 hurdles.
Also moving up two spots in LSU’s all-time rankings with her performance on Saturday was senior Laura Carleton while taking the title in the women’s 3,000 meters. Carleton, the SEC Indoor champion for 5,000 meters, crossed the finish line in 9:22.69 for the second-fastest run outdoors in school history and less than one second off of Lisa Reed’s 26-year-old school record of 9:22.04 set back in 1987.
The Tigers were also impressive in the sprints and hurdles during Saturday’s dual-meet competition as they were led by sophomores Aaron Ernest and Quincy Downing in sweeping the 200 meters and 400 meters.
Like Duncan, Ernest took the title in his first 200-meter final of the 2013 outdoor season as he sprinted to the finish line with a season-opening 20.78 (+1.4) for the NCAA’s No. 2-ranked wind-legal effort for the outdoor season. Downing also ran the NCAA’s second-fastest 400 meters among all performances entering the weekend with his 46.27 to finish as the top collegian in Saturday’s action.
Tiger freshman Darrell Bush followed Downing in second place in the collegiate final in the 400 meters while running a lifetime PR of 46.37 in the race, breaking his previous PR of 46.95 set as a high school junior during a breakout 2011 season. Bush’s season-opening race ranked No. 5 on the NCAA list among all performances entering the weekend.
Fellow sophomore Joshua Thompson also scored big points for the Tigers as the top collegiate finisher in the 110-meter hurdles while crossing the finish line with a wind-legal 14.32 (+1.5).
“Today was another positive step for both of our teams as we now head into the homestretch of our regular season,” Shaver said. “We’re now down to just a few meets before the championship season. Our athletes really need to take advantage of every opportunity to compete from here on out. I think we did a good job of that today.”
The Lady Tigers sandwiched much of Saturday’s action between a sweep of 4x100-meter and 4x400-meter relay titles as posted winning times of 44.12 and 3:34.94, respectively.
Leading LSU’s other event winners during the events was Lady Tiger senior Brittany Porter, who jumped a wind-legal seasonal best of 20-1 ½ (+1.6) to take the women’s long jump crown over a pair of NCAA Indoor All-Americans in UCLA’s Kylie Price (20-1 ¼) and TCU’s Lorraine Ugen (19-11 ½). Porter scored the upset of the meet as she took the lead at 20-1 ½ in the fifth round en route to a narrow victory over Price and Ugen.
Senior Siedda Herbert won her first 400-meter race of the season with an opening 54.13, while she also ran a lifetime PR of 24.17 for second place to Duncan in the women’s 200-meter dash final.
Other event winners on Saturday afternoon included Tiger freshman Fitzroy Dunkley with an outdoor PR of 6-9 in the men’s high jump and Lady Tiger sophomore Doren Welch with a series-best of 149-0 in the javelin.
Other LSU athletes enjoying personal-best performances to lead the charge at Drake Stadium included a quartet of 1,500-meter runners with Barrett Miller (3:56.99), Roger Cooke (4:03.09), Andria Aguilar (4:30.89) and Laura Aleman (4:48.87). Also setting personal bests were Chanice Chase at 13.60 in the 100-meter hurdles, Cyril Grayson at 21.33 in the 200-meter dash and Kaitlyn Moreau at 17-11 ¾ in the long jump.
The Tigers and Lady Tigers will now return home for the next two weekends as they play host to the Battle on the Bayou on April 13 and the annual LSU Alumni Gold meet on April 20 at the Bernie Moore Track Stadium in Baton Rouge. They will then wrap up the 2013 regular season with the running of the 119th Penn Relay Carnival on April 25-27 at the University of Pennsylvania’s Franklin Field in Philadelphia.