ULTIMATELY, A RELAY would cost USC the team title, but it wasn’t the 4×1. The maximum 10 points got the favored Trojans off to a perfect start, and perfect passing netted a 42.21 for the No. 6 collegiate performance ever, trailing 4 times by LSU and 1 by Oregon.
Chanel Brissett, Angie Annelus and Lanae-Tava Thomas executed the first two handoffs perfectly to stay in lock-step with LSU, and then Thomas’s third leg made the difference—she gave anchor Twanisha Terry a 2m lead with 100 to go, despite actually completing her handoff later than the Tigers.
Previewing the recordsetting day she was about to have, LSU anchor Sha’Carri Richardson erased half of that deficit, but ultimately she, Tonea Marshall, Kortnei Johnson and Rachel Misher had to settle for the fastest non-winner in meet history, 42.29. Behind them, Arkansas (42.79) picked up 6 points that would prove crucial.
Said Terry, “I ran the last leg, so I tried not to focus too much on the [first three]. I watched them pop off, and then I just turned my head. Then once the second leg gets running, I get in position and wait for third leg to come around. We said, ‘As long as we get the baton around the track and execute, we can win this race.’ We knew coming in it would be more of a challenge because we were running by ourselves all year.”
Brissett said, “I’m grateful, but I’m never satisfied. There’s always more that you want, so I’m happy that I got the PR and that we won the race. We’re just glad that we had clean handoffs all year. Our chemistry is great, so no matter who leads off, it’s always great. I’m just glad I got to be a part of the relay this year. It was just great to have a chance to run with those girls.”
Added Terry, “We talked about [setting the tone for a team championship] a lot.” They did indeed set the tone, but couldn’t have known it would be doomed 2½ hours later.
NCAA WOMEN’S 4 x 100 RESULTS
FINAL
(June 08)
1. USC 42.21 (WL, AL, CL) (6 C; 2 NCAA) (#3 school; #2 NCAA school)
(Chanel Brissett, Angie Annelus, Lanae-Tava Thomas, Twanisha Terry);
2. LSU 42.29 (8 C; 4 NCAA)
(Tonea Marshall, Kortnei Johnson, Rachel Misher, Sha’Carri Richardson);
3. Arkansas 42.79
(Tamara Kuykendall, Payton Chadwick, Janeek Brown’, Kiara Parker);
4. Oregon 42.99
(Kerissa D’Arpino, Venessa D’Arpino, Briyahna DesRosiers, Brianna Duncan);
5. Alabama 43.00
(Daija Lampkin, Mauricia Prieto’, Symone Darius, Tamara Clark);
6. North Carolina A&T 43.09
(Cambrea Sturgis, Kayla White, Tori Ray, Kamaya Debose-Epps);
7. Florida State 43.13
(Karimah Davis, Jayla Kirkland, Shauna Helps’, Ka’Tia Seymour);
8. Texas 43.69
(Kennedy Simon, Teahna Daniels, Zola Golden, Serenity Douglas).
(best-ever mark-for-NCAA-place: 2, 6–8)
SEMIS
(June 06)
I–1. Arkansas 42.65 (#7 school);
2. North Carolina A&T 42.95; 3. Alabama 43.17 (Lampkin, Prieto, Sparling, Clark); 4. Houston 43.48 (fastest non-Q ever) (Taylor, Sample, Samuels, Seymour); 5. Clemson 43.69 (Smith, Mallard, Hill, Lawrence); 6. UCF 43.82 (Williams, Holback, De Freitas’, Gallmon); 7. Kansas State 44.43 (Pryce’, Cave’, McKenzie’, Stephenson’); 8. Oklahoma 44.47 (Austin, Merriweather, Giles, Blackmon).
II–1. LSU 42.56 (=8 NCAA);
2. Texas 42.84 (Simon, Daniels, Golden, Flannel); 3. Miami 43.49 (Brown, McMinn, Steele, Patterson); 4. Kentucky 43.53 (Barnes, Steiner, O’Connor, Gray); 5. Colorado State 43.92 (Sant, Gale’, Rocker, Ozoude); 6. Cincinnati 44.10 (Chandler, Bisiolu’, Banks, Lattimore); 7. Southern Illinois 44.43 (Harris, Eason, Ewell, Branch); 8. Ohio State 44.62 (Soleyn’, Winters, Senior, DeLoach).
III–1. USC 42.53 (6 NCAA) (Brissett, Annelus, Thomas, Terry);
2. Florida State 43.23; 3. Oregon 43.35; 4. Mississippi 43.54 (Rowe, Eckford, Simmons, Presley); 5. Jacksonville 43.86 (Baldwin, Smiling, Toombs, Smith’); 6. Texas Tech 44.30 (Byrd, Gordon, Ricks, Johnson); 7. Wyoming 44.77 (Davis, Henderson, Howell, Edmonds); 8. Nebraska 44.96 (Bridges, Harris, Ingram, McIntosh’).
