EUGENE, Ore. – The LSU women’s track & field team opened up their week at the NCAA Outdoor Championships on Thursday, hosted by Oregon at the historic Hayward Field. The Tigers got on the board with two points, putting them at 26th overall for women’s team scores.
Day two of the NCAA Outdoor Championships was the first time this week for the women to shine during the four-day meet.
Freshman Trinity Spooner got the scoring started for the Tigers this weekend at her first ever NCAA meet on Thursday. Spooner reached a distance of 54.81 meters (179’ 10”) on her third attempt of the day to finish seventh overall. The Louisiana native’s performance earned her First Team All-American status and scored two points for LSU.
The Tigers began their quest for gold with the women’s 4×100-meter relay squad consisting of Brianna Lyston, Thelma Davies, Leah Phillips and Tima Godbless earning an auto-Q for the final after winning their heat. The quartet finished with a time of 42.63 seconds to finish third overall in the semifinal.
The women proved LSU’s nickname ”SprintU” on Thursday as they qualified three women for the 100-meter final. Brianna Lyston was the fastest of the Tigers and the second-fastest in the semifinals with her time of 10.99 seconds (+0.7 m/s). Freshman Tima Godbless was the fifth-fastest runner on the day with her time of 11.08 seconds (+0.0 m/s) in heat three. Senior Thelma Davies was able to snatch the final time-qualifying spot with her 11.18 performance in the same heat as Lyston.
Godbless returned later in the day to punch her third NCAA-final ticket in the 200 meter. The freshman from Nigeria clocked a personal-best time of 22.56 seconds (+1.2 m/s) to dip below the Olympic-entry standard of 22.57.
Another young Nigerian star, Ella Onojuvwevwo, showed why she is the world’s fastest U20 400-meter sprinter on Thursday. The sophomore punched her ticket to her first individual-NCAA final with the time of 50.70 seconds.
None of the qualifying races came easier than the women’s 800 meter as Michaela Rose put the breaks on at the finish for another sub-two-minute performance. The Suffolk, Va., native went 1:59.90 as the only athlete to go sub-two on the day. Rose will be looking for her second NCAA Outdoor title in-a-row on Saturday and a chance to break the elusive 800-meter-collegiate record.
Shani’a Bellamy was unable to earn a spot in the 100-meter hurdle final, but grabbed the final -time qualifying spot in the 400-meter hurdles. The senior ran a time of 56.25 seconds to finish third in her heat and ninth overall in semifinals of her primary event.
The day closed out with the women’s 4×400-meter relay quartet of Onojuvwevwo, Bellamy, Rose and Garriel White. The group earned an automatic-qualifier spot in their heat, finishing sixth overall with a time of 3:28.04. Onojuvwevwo and Rose put up impressive splits equally with 51.69 and 51.06 respectively.
Women’s Day 2 Schedule (Saturday, June 8)
4:00 p.m. – Women’s High Jump Final | Morgan Smalls
4:05 p.m. – Women’s Discus Throw Final | Estel Valeanu
4:32 p.m. – Women’s 4x100m Relay Final | Lyston, Davies, Phillips, Godbless
4:50 p.m. – Women’s Triple Jump Final | Morgan Smalls, Taylor Fingers
5:22 p.m. – Women’s 100 Meter Final | Brianna Lyston, Tima Godbless, Thelma Davies
5:32 p.m. – Women’s 400 Meter Final | Ella Onojuvwevwo
5:44 p.m. – Women’s 800 Meter Final | Michaela Rose
5:57 p.m. – Women’s 400-Meter Hurdles Final | Shani’a Bellamy
6:07 p.m. – Women’s 200 Meter Final | Tima Godbless
6:51 p.m. – Women’s 4x400m Relay Final | Onojuvwevwo, Bellamy, Rose, White
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