Track & Field Athletes Look to Qualify for NCAA\'s

BATON ROUGE -- The remaining LSU track and field athletes who have yet to qualify for next week’s NCAA Indoor Championships will have one final opportunity to do so at either the LSU Invitational or the Cyclone National Qualifier this weekend.

The Tigers and Lady Tigers will host the LSU Invitational at the Carl Maddox Fieldhouse on Friday with action beginning with the field events at 3:30 p.m., while head coach Dennis Shaver is sending three athletes to the Cyclone National Qualifier at the Lied Athletic Center in Ames, Iowa, on Saturday.

Shaver said that several of LSU’s athletes, including jumps standouts Jeremy Hicks and Andrea Linton, must improve their NCAA provisional qualifying marks at home this weekend to secure their spot at the NCAA meet next week. Hicks has qualified provisionally in the long jump with a mark of 24 feet, 10 ½ inches, while Linton posted a provisional mark in the triple jump this past weekend at 42-8 ¼.

Also looking to improve their already established provisional qualifying times in Iowa this weekend are Armanti Hayes (47.04 seconds) and Meisue Francis (2 minutes, 7.76 seconds) in the 400 and 800, respectively, while Rueben Twijukye is also looking to post a strong provisional qualifying time in the half mile at the Cyclone National Qualifier.

“This weekend will give several of our athletes the opportunity to improve their standing so that they can earn a spot at the national meet next week,” Shaver said. “We need some of our jumpers like Jeremy Hicks and Andrea Linton to really go out and put up a high enough provisional mark so they will be able to help us next week. We will also be sending a few of the athletes to Iowa where they will be able to get something done for us in the quarter mile and 800."

The teams will close out the indoor season next weekend as they travel to Fayetteville, Ark., to compete in the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships at the Randal Tyson Track Center. The NCAA is scheduled to release its list of declared athletes competing in the national meet at 9 p.m. CST on Sunday.