In his final competition for the purple and gold, LSU senior and former NV track star Barrett Nugent ran the first leg on the national champion 4x100 meter relay team, but failed in his bid for a repeat in the 110 meter hurdles.

Last year, Nugent won the 110 meter title at the National Championship as a junior at LSU.

The Tigers 4x100 team (Nugent, Aaron Ernest, Keyth Talley, Shermund Allsop) ran a 38.38 to beat out second-place Florida State (38.57) and third-place Auburn (38.69).

“Coming in to the race, coach was like ‘Just keep calm’,” said Talley. “That’s what I did. I just tried to remain calm... We had a lot of mishaps through the year. We didn’t want anything like that to happen.”

The Tigers 4x100 meter relay team that qualified for the finals with the second-best time (38.77) of the two heats on Wednesday. That time was also a season best for LSU.

The 4x100 meter relay race was likely Nugent’s final time to compete in that event.

Later, in the 110 meter hurdles, Nugent ran a solid 13.80 into a head wind, but it was not enough to eclipse heavily-favored Andrew Riley of the University of Illinois.

Riley ran a 13.53 to take the title.

Nugent qualified for the 110 meter hurdles finals on Thursday evening, running a 13.38 in the semifinal round. His time was the third-fastest qualifying time in the three semifinal races and was also his best time of the 2012 season.

The senior Nugent finished in second place in his qualifying race, so he received an automatic spot in Saturday’s final.

Nugent will next attempt to qualify for the Team USA in the 110 meter hurdles in two weeks at the Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore.