PHOTO BY:Robert Black
BATON ROUGE -- The Lady Tigers track and field team is the nation’s top-ranked squad once again, while the Tigers continue their rise in the Top 10 to No. 4 in the latest U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Top 25 released Wednesday.
The Lady Tigers continue to build momentum for the postseason as they have held the nation’s top spot since the preseason. They are followed this week by No. 2 Arizona State, No. 3 Stanford, No. 4 Tennessee and No. 5 Michigan in the top five.
The Tigers are also peaking at the right time as they have reached their highest spot in the power ranking since opening the season at No. 5 in the country.
The Tennessee Volunteers have been replaced by Arizona State as the nation’s top-ranked squad on the men’s side, while the reigning NCAA outdoor champion Florida State Seminoles follow at No. 2 in the latest power ranking. Tennessee slips to No. 3 after holding the top spot the past two weeks with BYU rounding out the top five at No. 5.
The Lady Tigers added to their postseason roster at the Tyson Invitational this past weekend as junior Andrea Linton was an NCAA automatic qualifier in the triple jump after posting a mark of 44 feet. They now have eight automatic qualifiers and 13 provisional qualifiers with just one meet remaining in the regular season.
The Tigers have catapulted themselves into the top five following a record-setting performance by their distance medley relay that clocked the second-fastest time in the NCAA this season.
The foursome of senior Elkana Kosgei (1,200 meters), sophomore Armanti Hayes (400 meters), sophomore Jamaal James (800 meters) and sophomore John Kosgei (mile) broke the school record in the event by six seconds after crossing the finish line with a strong NCAA provisional qualifying time of 9 minutes, 35.31 seconds.
The squads continue their preparation for the postseason as they play host to the LSU Twilight Invitational at the Carl Maddox Fieldhouse on Friday before traveling to the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Ark., for the start of the SEC Indoor Championships on Feb. 29.
USTFCCCA Top 25
WOMEN
1. LSU, 186.05
2. Arizona State, 148.01
3. Stanford, 144.31
4. Tennessee, 128.42
5. Michigan, 122.61
6. Texas A&M, 96.85
7. Minnesota, 86.02
8. Penn State, 83.92
9. Arkansas, 80.59
10. Kansas, 71.27
11. Virginia Tech, 63.93
12. Florida, 63.16
13. Texas, 62.53
14. Florida State, 60.26
15. UTEP, 51.45
16. Washington, 51.34
17. Ole Miss, 50.57
18. Iowa, 49.16
19. Arizona, 47.82
20. Oregon, 44.84
21. Southern Illinois, 44.23
22. Kentucky, 42.51
23. Georgia Tech, 38.25
24. South Carolina, 37.83
25. Miami, Fla. (37.32)
MEN
1. Arizona State, 120.56
2. Florida State, 111.76
3. Tennessee, 90.63
4. LSU, 84.27
5. BYU, 83.56
6. Oklahoma, 79.44
7. Texas, 76.61
8. Florida, 70.01
9. Northern Iowa, 69.16
10. Oregon, 64.93
11. Texas A&M, 64.03
12. Boise State, 63.08
13. Arkansas, 62.17
14. Kentucky, 59.22
15. Clemson, 55.41
16. Texas Tech, 55.19
17. Stanford, 52.17
18. Baylor, 51.49
19. Georgia, 51.11
20. Oral Roberts, 49.80
21. Michigan, 49.78
22. Nebraska, 49.66
23. Kansas, 48.82
24. Auburn, 48.02
25. UCLA, 45.33