Bliss Breaks Record at 'Battle on the Bayou'
BATON ROUGE – Sophomore Tori Bliss smashed LSU’s 19-year-old school record in the shot put and senior Kimberlyn Duncan sprinted to an NCAA-leading time in the 200-meter dash to lead a sweep of team titles by the Tigers and Lady Tigers during Saturday’s action at the third-annual Battle on the Bayou held at the Bernie Moore Track Stadium.
Bliss stole the show with her victory as she uncorked a lifetime personal record of 55 feet, 11 inches to win the shot put crown with the NCAA’s No. 8-ranked shot put performance in 2013.
Duncan followed by winning the women’s 200-meter title as she sprinted to the finish line in a wind-legal 22.82 seconds for the fastest time in the NCAA and second-fastest time in the World rankings this spring.
They were among 16 event winners for the Tigers and Lady Tigers on the afternoon, while 14 athletes set new outdoor personal bests during Saturday’s action at the Bernie Moore Track Stadium. Their effort also led a title sweep for LSU as the Lady Tigers scored 188 points and the Tigers totaled 140 points on the afternoon to defend their team titles at the Battle on the Bayou.
The Lady Tigers were followed by Penn State (139) in second place, Arizona State (134) in third place and Mississippi State (96) in fourth place in the women’s team standings. Trailing the Tigers were Penn State (124) in second place, Arizona State (119) in third place, Connecticut (117) in fourth place and Mississippi State (90) in fifth place in the men’s race.
It marks the second year in a row in which the Tigers and Lady Tigers have swept the team titles at the Battle on the Bayou as they also pulled off the double in the second-annual event a season ago.
“I like scored meets. I appreciate teams like Arizona State, Penn State, Mississippi State and Connecticut coming down and making this a great meet,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “It was very competitive all the way through the final events with each team turning in some outstanding performances. I thought it was a great event.”
Certainly no star shined as bright as Bliss on this day as the sophomore from Portage, Ind., took down the 19-year-old shot put school record of 54-6 ½ previously set by Lady Tiger great Danyel Mitchell in 1994.
Bliss, who entered the meet with an outdoor PR of 51-7 set as a freshman last year and a lifetime PR of 52-11 set during the indoor season this year, let loose a throw of 55-11 in the third round Saturday as she eclipsed Mitchell’s school record by 16 ½ inches. Mitchell was one of the NCAA’s premier throwers during her collegiate career from 1991-94 as a two-time NCAA Champion in the discus in 1993 and 1994 and 10-time All-America selection as a Lady Tiger. She also won six All-America honors in the shot put during her tenure.
What’s even more impressive is that Bliss took the Battle on the Bayou title over Arizona State All-American Anna Jelmini as the Sun Devil junior scored the silver medal with a throw of 55-4 ¾. Jelmini earned NCAA All-America honors in the shot put this indoor season with a fifth-place finish nationally at the NCAA Indoor Championships in March.
Jelmini did win the women’s discus crown on Saturday with a throw of 194-5 and is a national title contender in the event this year with an NCAA-leading mark of 198-10 to her credit in 2013.
Bliss is in the midst of a transformation after changing from the glide to the rotation technique in the shot put following the indoor season. Saturday marked just the second time she has used the rotation outdoors this season after opening with a mark of 51-3 ¾ for a runner-up finish at UCLA’s Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner-Kersee Invitational a week ago.
“It’s been frustrating at the beginning while trying to get it to click. We had a breakthrough week at practice this week, so I felt pretty confident coming into today,” Bliss said. “I’ve been using the glide technique since I was a freshman in high school, so it’s been a pretty big jump for me to make. For me, it’s all about being comfortable and having confidence in the ring. I had that today.
“I’ve been a lot more confident in practice these last couple of weeks. We’ve had some pretty big marks during the week. It’s great to come out and show that in a competition like we had today.”
As she has done throughout her collegiate career at LSU, Duncan took her rightful place atop the NCAA rankings in the 200-meter dash while winning her second title in as many weeks at the Battle on the Bayou. While opening her outdoor season with a run of 23.26 last weekend, Duncan took the title on Saturday with a national-leading 22.82 (-0.4) for the second-fastest wind-legal performance in the World this spring.
Duncan is off to a fast start in defense of her NCAA Outdoor crown in the 200 meters as the two-time defending NCAA Outdoor champion in the event as she competes during her senior season with the Lady Tigers.
Duncan also ran the second leg of LSU’s winning 4x100-meter relay team as she again teamed with juniorJasmin Stowers, junior Takeia Pinckney and junior Toshika Sylvester for a run of 44.16 to take the title before an Arizona State squad crossing the finish line in 44.77. Penn State was third in the sprint relay final in 45.34.
Stowers later claimed her third victory in four appearances this spring in the 100-meter hurdles as she took the tape in 13.22 (+0.1) ahead Arizona State’s Keia Pinnick in second place at 13.33. Stowers has also taken the win in the 100 hurdles at the LSU Relays (13.39) and UCLA’s Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner-Kersee Invitational (13.07) during her junior season.
Stowers is the NCAA’s No. 3-ranked sprint hurdler on the campaign as she owns a seasonal-best wind-aided time of 12.88 that was set in a third-place finish at the Texas Relays two weeks ago.
Setting the pace for the Tigers during Saturday’s Battle on the Bayou were junior Shermund Allsop, sophomore Aaron Ernest and freshman Darrell Bush as each claimed multiple event titles during the competition.
They followed the Lady Tigers with a title of their own in the men’s 4x100-meter relay while teaming with seniorDamar Forbes for a narrow victory over Arizona State. With Forbes leading off, Ernest on the second leg, Bush on the third leg and Allsop running anchor, the Tigers crossed the finish line in 39.61 and a split-second ahead of the 39.69 by the Sun Devils for the crown.
Bush set a lifetime PR in the 400-meter dash for the second week in a row as he surged into the lead with 40 meters to go and crossed the finish line in 46.15 for the No. 7-ranked performance in the NCAA for the year. Bush surged ahead of sophomore teammate Quincy Downing on the homestretch as Downing followed in second place with his run of 46.56.
Bush finished runner-up to Downing at the Rafer Johnson/Jackie-Joyner Kersee Invitational a week ago with his previous lifetime best of 46.37 in the event. Downing won the race with a seasonal best of 46.27.
Ernest followed Bush’s effort by winning the 100-meter dash in the next event on the track with a wind-legal 10.32 (+1.1) ahead of Gabriel Mvumvure (10.42) of the Tiger Olympians. Allsop then added a win in the 200 meters by the narrowest of margins as he posted a wind-aided run of 20.95 (+2.7) to finish just two one-thousandths of a second ahead of the 20.95 by Arizona State’s Ryan Milus in the race.
Bush and Downing then wrapped up the meet by running the first two legs of LSU’s winning 4x400-meter relay for his third event victory of the afternoon. They joined freshman Cyril Grayson and senior Caleb Williams in running 3 minutes, 6.16 seconds for the win ahead of Arizona State (3:06.80) in second place and Mississippi State (3:06.86) in third place.
Also winning two event titles on the afternoon was Lady Tiger senior Laura Carleton as she took the tape in the 1,500 meters and 3,000 meters for the distance sweep at this year’s Battle on the Bayou.
Carleton joined senior teammate Charlene Lipsey in a tight race to the finish line as she finished just four one-hundredths of a second ahead of her fellow Lady Tiger for the title. Carleton crossed the finish line with an impressive two-second PR of 4:19.99 for the No. 4-ranked performance in school history, while Lipsey followed in second place with a seasonal-best time of 4:20.03. Carleton later added a win in the 3,000 meters while earning an 11-second victory at 9:44.09 for her second meet record of the afternoon.
Two other Lady Tigers won event titles with new outdoor PRs on Saturday afternoon as junior Lynnika Pittsjumped 41-7 ¾ (-2.2) to win the triple jump and freshman Andria Aguilar ran 2:09.33 to win the 800 meters.
In one of the more exciting races of the afternoon, LSU junior Natoya Goule took down Mississippi State senior Jodi-Ann Muir for the women’s 400-meter crown in a battle between two Jamaican internationals. Goule slashed more than one second off of her seasonal-best time with a winning run of 53.16 to finish less than a tenth of a second ahead of Muir’s 53.25 for the victory.
Goule’s speed was certainly on display as she dropped down from her normal distance of 800 meters for which she is the reigning NCAA Indoor champion and NCAA leader outdoors with a best of 2:01.18 in 2013.
Goule ended the women’s competition by anchoring the Lady Tigers to a victory in the 4x400-meter relay as she held off Arizona State’s Brianna Tate on the homestretch for the win. She anchored a team that also had senior Siedda Herbert, junior Nikita Tracey and sophomore Montenae Roye-Speight as the Lady Tigers ran 3:34.82 to beat Arizona State (3:35.16) across the finish line.
Rounding out LSU’s list of event champions at this year’s Battle on the Bayou was Tiger sophomore Rodney Brown, who wasted no time in throwing a series-best of 196-3 on his very first attempt in claiming the victory in the men’s discus final. Brown finished more than 14 feet ahead of the 181-11 thrown by Arizona State standout Jordan Clarke during the competition.
It marked Brown’s third win in five appearances in the discus this spring as he has only been beaten in competition by UCLA’s Julian Wruck during the 2013 season.
Other LSU athletes setting outdoor PRs at the Battle on the Bayou meet were senior Siedda Herbert (24.01) and junior Toshika Sylvester (24.02) in the 200 meters, juniors Leigh-Ann Naccari (10:15.40) and Laura Aleman (10:34.88) in the 3,000 meters, sophomore Chanice Chase (59.71) in the 400-meter hurdles, sophomore Philip Primeaux (3:53.85) in the 1,500 meters, sophomore Jeremy Tuttle (165-10) and freshmanTerry Hughes (142-1) in the discus and freshman Kaitlyn Moreau (100-3) in the javelin throw.
“I love these kinds of meets because the focus is more on how well you compete when you line it up instead of just chasing a better time or a better mark,” Shaver said. “I thought our athletes did a great job of that in the meet today. They went out there and competed for one another just as much as they did for themselves. That’s what I’m most proud of with their effort today.