Athletes Past, Present Represent LSU at National Meet

BATON ROUGE -- LSU will be well-represented at the 2007 AT&T USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships beginning Thursday in Indianapolis as 14 current and former athletes will compete for the right to represent their country at this summer’s World Championships.

This year’s meet will be held at the Michael A. Carroll Track and Soccer Stadium in conjunction with the USA Junior Championships as it is scheduled to conclude Sunday.

Fans across the country will have the opportunity to watch many of the nation’s premier athletes in action as ESPN2 will air Friday’s competition on a tape-delay basis from 7-8 p.m. CDT, while NBC will have a live broadcast on Saturday from 1-2 p.m. and Sunday from 12-2 p.m.

The Tigers will be represented by three athletes who earned All-America honors at the NCAA Outdoor Championships two weeks ago as sophomore Trindon Holliday will line up in the 100, senior Siraj Williams will run the 400 and sophomore Chad Radgowski will throw javelin.

Holliday was the national runner-up in the 100 meters as he enters the meet with a top time of 10.02 seconds clocked in the national semifinal on June 8. The Zachary, La., native also anchored the Tigers’ 4x100-meter relay team to a runner-up finish at the NCAA meet with a time of 38.85.

Williams earned his first career individual All-America honor in the 400 meters as he finished eighth with a new lifetime best of 45.77 while also anchoring the squad’s 4x400-meter relay team to a third-place finish. Radgowski earned his first career All-America honor in the javelin with a sixth-place finish and enters the meet with a seasonal best mark of 239 feet, 8 inches.

The Lady Tigers will be represented by a pair of current athletes as senior Cynetheia Rooks is slated to run the 400 and senior Tanya Osbourne is scheduled to line up in the 800. Both made an appearance at the NCAA Outdoor Championships as Rooks boasts a seasonal best time of 52.33 and Osbourne enters with a mark of 2 minutes, 5.64 seconds.

Former LSU national champion Walter Davis is looking to defend his USA and World Outdoor titles in the triple jump this season, while he will also compete in the long jump this weekend. He will be joined in the long jump competition by reigning Olympic silver medalist John Moffitt.

Sprint star Xavier Carter enters the competition with the top seed time in the 200 meters as he boasts a lifetime best of 19.63, which is the second-fastest time in world history behind only the world record of 19.32 set by Michael Johnson at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.

Kelly Willie – a 19-time All-American during his prolific career at LSU from 2003-06 – will compete in both the 100 meters and 200 meters at the USA Championships, while the Tigers will also be represented by past standouts Derrick Brew in the 400 meters and Russ Buller in the pole vault. Buller swept NCAA indoor and outdoor titles in his specialty during the 2000 season.

Sprinters Stephanie Durst and Muna Lee are also set to double in the 100 and 200, while former Lady Tiger teammate Lolo Jones is among the favorites to win the title in the 100-meter hurdles. This trio laid the foundation for an LSU squad that won four NCAA team titles from 2001-04 as they combined for 43 All-America honors and 13 national titles during their prolific careers.

The top three finishers in each event at this weekend’s USA Championships will represent the United States at the 11th IAAF World Championships in Athletics, which will be held at Nagai Stadium in Osaka, Japan, from Aug. 25-Sept. 2.