BATON ROUGE -- The LSU track and field program will be well represented at this summer’s IAAF World Championships in Athletics as it is sending a total of 14 current and former athletes representing five countries to Osaka, Japan, from Aug. 25-Sept. 2.
Leading the way for the LSU contingent are five current athletes who were either crowned NCAA champions or earned All-America honors for their performance during the 2007 season.
Senior Isa Phillips – the reigning NCAA champion in the 400-meter hurdles – will represent his native Jamaica after winning a silver medal in the event at the Jamaican National Senior Championships in Kingston this past weekend. He looks to make the event final in Osaka as he enters with the eighth-fastest time in the world at 48.51 seconds.
Senior Sherry Fletcher will represent Grenada in her first ever trip to the World Championships as she competes in the 100-meter dash after winning an NCAA title in the event on June 8. Fletcher became the fourth Lady Tiger to win a national title in the event with a new personal best time of 11.20 in the national final.
In addition, senior Alleyne Lett is also scheduled to line up for Grenada in the 110-meter hurdles, while junior Richard Thompson represents Trinidad and Tobago in both the 100-meter dash and 4x100-meter relay and sophomore Nickiesha Wilson competes for Jamaica in the 400 hurdles.
Walter Davis leads a group of four former LSU greats who are representing the United States at the 11th IAAF World Championships as he is the defending world champion in the triple jump. Davis is also set to compete in the long jump after earning a fourth place finish at the 2007 AT&T USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships on June 22.
Joining Davis on the U.S. squad is former Lady Tiger national champion Lolo Jones in the 100-meter hurdles, Stephanie Durst in the 4x100 relay pool and Derrick Brew in the 4x400 relay pool. Jones finished third in her specialty at the USA Championships this past weekend.
Also competing for Grenada will be former LSU standouts Hazel Ann Regis, Marian Burnett and Neisha Bernard-Thomas. Regis is one of the world’s premier 400-meter runners, while both Burnett and Bernard-Thomas are set to line up against an elite field in the 800 meters.
Rounding out the Lady Tigers’ international delegation are former standouts Ronetta Smith and Laverne Eve. Smith is set to compete as a member of Jamaica’s 4x400 relay pool, while Eve is making her eighth appearance at the World Championships for The Bahamas in the javelin throw.
In addition to the World Championships in August, LSU will also be represented by three of its standouts at next week’s Pan American Junior Championships in Fortaleza, Brazil, from July 6-8.
Freshman Samantha Henry is set to compete in the 100 and 200 meters after winning titles in the Under-20 division at the Jamaican National Junior Championships, while she will also run on the Jamaican 4x100-meter relay team. She shattered her previous personal best in the 100 with a time of 11.21 in the finals on Saturday.
Freshman LaTavia Thomas will represent the United States in the 800 meters after winning the U.S. Junior title at the 2007 USA Junior Outdoor Track and Field Championships on June 22. Fellow freshman Jamaal James is also slated to compete in the 800 after winning the junior title at the Sagicor National Open Championships in Trinidad and Tobago last weekend.