BATON ROUGE -- The LSU men and women\'s track teams tuned up Friday for the pending NCAA Indoor Championships at the LSU Invitational in the Carl Maddox Field House.
Lady Tiger Andrea Linton headlined the day, provisionally qualifying in both the long jump and triple jump. Linton\'s long jump mark of 20-3 gives LSU its third provisional qualifier in the event. The sophomore\'s triple jump mark of 42-6 1/4, a personal best, moves her into the top 20 in the nation.
Tiger Richard Thompson ran a personal best in the 60-meter dash, clocking in at 6.73. The sophomore was just one-hundredth of a second off the NCAA provisional mark. The mark ties him for fourth all-time, joining former Tiger Robert Parham.
Sophomore Ryan Fontenot continued to improve his mark in the 60-meter hurdles. Fontenot\'s time of 7.95 moves him into fourth place all-time in LSU history. The mark was also a season leading time for the Tigers.
Ricky Jean-Francois easily collected the shot put crown against the small field, winning with a throw of 59-9 1/2. Though the throw is provisionally qualifying, the freshman did not improve on his provisional mark (60-1 1/4) that he set last week at the SEC Conference Championships.
Running tomorrow for the Lady Tigers will be Meisue Francis, Tanya Osbourne, and Cyntheia Rooks in the Alex Wilson Invitational at Notre Dame. Francis and Osbourne will be looking to improve their provisional marks in the 800 meters. Both currently sit in the top 30, but will need to run nearly a full two seconds faster to be considered for the national meet.
Rooks, who sits right on the championship invitation bubble, will try to improve her mark in the 400 meters. The junior ran her best time of the season last week, turning in a mark of 54.04 at the SEC Championships.
Austin Benton, Isa Phillips, Jeffrey Parker, and Patrick Gavin will look to improve on their season bests tomorrow for the Tigers. Benton, a 400-meter specialist, and Gavin, a miler, currently sit in the top 40 in the nation. Both will need to run well tomorrow to improve their chances of making the short list for next week\'s competition.
Looking ahead, LSU will return to Fayetteville, Ark., to compete in the NCAA Championships. The competition, to be held March 10-11, will finish up the indoor season for both squads.