BATON ROUGE -- The championship season kicks off Friday as the LSU track and field teams travel to Fayetteville, Ark., to battle the league’s best at the 2008 Southeastern Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships at the Randal Tyson Track Center.
The meet is scheduled to get underway Friday with the women’s pentathlon and the first day of the men’s heptathlon, while the action continues Saturday and Sunday with the conclusion of the heptathlon and the start of the open field and running events.
The competition is sure to be fierce as seven women’s teams and six men’s teams enter the weekend ranked among the top 25 teams in the nation in the latest U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Top 25 released on Wednesday.
The top-ranked Lady Tigers, who finished third in this competition a year ago, are seeking their first SEC Indoor title since 1999 and will be challenged by No. 4 Tennessee, No. 9 Arkansas, No. 14 Florida, No. 15 Ole Miss, No. 22 Kentucky and No. 25 South Carolina.
The fourth-ranked Tigers are looking to improve upon their fourth-place finish in 2007 and end an 18-year drought with their first SEC Indoor championship since 1990. They must battle five nationally ranked programs to do so, including No. 3 Tennessee, No. 9 Florida, No. 14 Arkansas, No. 17 Kentucky and No. 20 Georgia.
“Both the men and the women are looking forward to the start of the championship season because this is what they’ve been training for since coming together in the fall,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “This weekend will be our first step in preparing for what is to come in the next few weeks, and that is being in the hunt for a national championship.
“This will be a good indicator of what our athletes will face at the NCAA Championships in many ways because most of these events will be just like lining up in a final at the national meet.”
The Tigers and Lady Tigers enter the meet with a number of athletes in a position to compete for conference titles in their respective specialty events. In fact, a total of 15 athletes are projected to earn all-conference as they currently rank either No. 1 or No. 2 on the final SEC performance list released earlier this week.
The women’s squad looks to dominate the sprints as senior Kelly Baptiste and sophomore Samantha Henry enter the meet holding the top spot in the 60 and 200 meters, respectively. Baptiste has clocked a league-best time of 7.17 seconds in the 60-meter dash, while Henry is the SEC’s top performer in the 200 with a time of 23.09.
Senior Jessica Ohanaja and junior Nickiesha Wilson will go head-to-head for the title in the 60-meter hurdles as the duo boasts the league’s top time this season at 8.12. Ohanaja will attempt to defend her SEC title from a year ago when she set a meet record in the final at 8.03.
Also looking to defend her conference crown is sophomore middle distance standout LaTavia Thomas, who swept SEC indoor and outdoor titles in the 800 meters as a freshman. Thomas clocked an SEC leading time of 2 minutes, 4.66 seconds in her only 800-meter race of the season.
Junior Andrea Linton is the clear favorite in the women’s triple jump with a seasonal best mark of 44 feet, which is nearly four feet better than her nearest competitor.
The Tigers boast a pair of favorites of their own as senior Richard Thompson will line up in the preliminary round of the 60-meter dash with the No. 1 time in the SEC and the NCAA this season at 6.57. Sophomore John Kosgei has burst onto the scene in just his first season at LSU as he holds the league’s top time in the 3,000 meters at 7:55.49.
Two of LSU’s relay teams will also be vying for conference supremacy as the Lady Tigers’ 4x400-meter relay is the favorite to win its fifth straight SEC indoor title with the top time this season at 3:34.74. The men’s distance medley relay holds the league’s top spot at 9:35.31.
In addition, Henry and sophomore Katelyn Rodrigue are projected to earn all-conference honors for the Lady Tigers as they are the SEC’s second-ranked performers in the 60 meters and pole vault, respectively. Sophomores Trindon Holliday (60 meters), Jamaal James (800 meters) and Will Coppage (long jump) rank second on the men’s side in their respective events.
“We’re looking forward to competing against many of the best teams and athletes in the country this weekend at one of the great venues in all of indoor track and field,” Shaver said. “The people at Arkansas do a tremendous job of getting the Tyson Center ready for a competition like this.”
Any LSU athlete having yet to qualify for the NCAA meet following this weekend’s action will have one last opportunity as the Tigers and Lady Tigers return to the Carl Maddox Fieldhouse on March 7 to play host to the LSU NCAA Indoor Qualifier. The NCAA Indoor Championships are set to get underway March 14 at the Randal Tyson Track Center.