BATON ROUGE -- The LSU women’s track and field team will carry their No. 1 ranking into the championship season, while the men hold on to their position at No. 4 in the latest U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Top 25 released Wednesday.
The squads are preparing to battle the league’s best at the SEC Indoor Championships beginning Friday at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Ark.
The Lady Tigers, who are the reigning SEC Outdoor champions, are among the favorites to win their first SEC Indoor title since 1999 as they will square off against the likes of No. 4 Tennessee, No. 9 Arkansas, No. 14 Florida, No. 15 Ole Miss, No. 22 Kentucky and No. 25 South Carolina.
The Tigers are looking to end an 18-year drought with their first SEC Indoor championship since 1990 and must defeat five other nationally ranked programs in Fayetteville this weekend to do so, including No. 3 Tennessee, No. 9 Florida No. 14 Arkansas, No. 17 Kentucky and No. 20 Georgia.
The teams enter the weekend riding a wave of momentum after playing host to the LSU Twilight Invitational at the Carl Maddox Fieldhouse on Friday night.
Three LSU athletes took one step closer to competing at the NCAA Indoor Championships next month after posting strong NCAA provisional qualifying marks at the LSU Twilight.
Senior Ryan Fontenot clocked the nation’s eighth-fastest time in the 60-meter hurdles this season with a new personal best of 7.78 seconds, while sophomore Katelyn Rodrigue broke her own indoor school record in the pole vault with a clearance of 13 feet, 6 ½ inches and sophomore Will Coppage recorded the nation’s 10th-longest mark in the long jump at 25-4 ¾.
After hosting the LSU NCAA Indoor Qualifier on March 7, LSU will return to Fayetteville on March 14 for the start of the 2008 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships as the Randal Tyson Track Center will play host to the ./event for the eighth straight season.
USTFCCCA Top 25
WOMEN
1. LSU, 191.25
2. Arizona State, 147.91
3. Stanford, 141.00
4. Tennessee, 127.55
5. Michigan, 120.05
6. Texas A&M, 93.34
7. Minnesota, 83.69
8. Penn State, 79.35
9. Arkansas, 73.75
10. Kansas, 69.07
11. Virginia Tech, 64.36
12. Texas, 62.60
13. Florida State, 59.54
14. Florida, 54.61
15. Ole Miss, 50.28
16. Washington, 49.16
17. UTEP, 48.78
18. Arizona, 45.49
19. Southern Illinois, 44.16
20. Oregon, 44.10
21. Iowa, 43.78
22. Kentucky, 41.98
23. Georgia Tech, 38.13
24. Baylor, 37.87
25. South Carolina, 37.30
MEN
1. Arizona State, 117.38
2. Florida State, 110.95
3. Tennessee, 90.62
4. LSU, 86.18
5. BYU, 81.29
6. Oklahoma, 74.95
7. Texas, 74.60
8. Northern Iowa, 68.21
9. Florida, 67.55
10. Texas A&M, 62.52
11. Boise State, 58.59
12. Oregon, 58.47
13. Wisconsin, 57.35
14. Arkansas, 55.74
15. Clemson, 54.74
16. Texas Tech, 53.97
17. Kentucky, 52.89
18. Georgetown, 51.28
19. Baylor, 50.30
20. Georgia, 50.20
21. Nebraska, 49.47
22. Michigan, 48.92
23. Oral Roberts, 48.52
24. Stanford, 47.22
25. Missouri, 46.32