BATON ROUGE -- After opening up the outdoor season last weekend at the Louisiana Classics, the LSU track and field teams will return to the Bernie Moore Track Stadium for the first of two home meets this season as they play host to the LSU Relays on Friday and Saturday. Action kicks off in the field at 10 a.m. on Friday followed by the first event on the track at 3 p.m. Saturday’s events begin in the field at 9 a.m. and on the track at 11 a.m. After wrapping up the indoor season two weeks ago with the men finishing fourth and the women finishing sixth at the NCAA Indoor Championships, LSU now turns its attention outdoors as the Lady Tigers are the defending NCAA Outdoor champions after winning the school’s 31st national championship in track and field a year go, while the Tigers finished second at the NCAA meet. The teams combined for a total of five qualifiers for the NCAA Mideast Regional Championships in their outdoor season opener at the Louisiana Classics in Lafayette a week ago. “We’re excited to really get our outdoor season kicked off with the LSU Relays,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “We always look at this meet as the true opener to our outdoor season each year. We like to give our athletes a couple of weeks to recover from the indoor season following the NCAA Championships, and many will be competing for the first time this weekend.” Despite kicking off its outdoor season last weekend, the Tigers and Lady Tigers did not run their 4x100-meter relays at the Louisiana Classics. The sprint relays will debut this weekend as the men’s team will open up defense of their NCAA title won at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in 2008 by running a foursome of senior Jeremy Hicks, junior Will Coppage, sophomore Gabriel Mvumvure and senior Trindon Holliday. The Lady Tigers, who finished runners-up in the event at the NCAA Outdoor Championships last season, will line up with a team of junior Kristina Davis, freshman Cassandra Tate, junior Samantha Henry and sophomore Kenyanna Wilson. The prelims of the 4x100-meter relays are set to begin at 3 p.m. on Friday followed by the final at 1 p.m. on Saturday. In addition to running the 4x100-meter relays, the Tigers and Lady Tigers will also run the 4x800 relay and sprint medley relay as they prepare for the Texas Relays next weekend. “We always like to use our event as a way to prepare for what we will see at meets like the Texas Relays and Penn Relays,” Shaver said. “Those are really the only meets during the season where we get to run all the different kinds of relays, and we’ll have the chance to get a little practice for that this weekend at the LSU Relays. It should be a lot of fun for our athletes.” A number of LSU athletes are also slated to open up the outdoor season in individual events, led by five NCAA Indoor All-Americans from this year in Henry (100 meters), Wilson (100 meters), Hicks (long jump), Brittani Carter (high jump) and Walter Henning (hammer throw). Hicks was the NCAA Indoor runner-up in the long jump after setting a lifetime best of 26 feet, 3 ½ inches at the NCAA Indoor Championships on March 13. He is a two-time All-American in the long jump during his LSU career, including one indoor and one outdoor honor since 2006. Both Henry and Wilson earned All-America honors in the 60-meter dash two weeks ago as Wilson placed third and Henry took seventh in the event at the NCAA Indoor Championships. In addition, Henry was the seventh-place finisher in the 200 meters at the national meet to earn her sixth and seventh All-America honors during her career as a Lady Tiger. Carter was the Lady Tigers’ top performer in the field events at the NCAA Indoor meet after she picked up her first career All-America honor with a third-place finish in the high jump. Carter set a new overall personal best during the competition by clearing the bar at 6-0. Henning is set to open up in the hammer throw this weekend after placing fourth in the 35-pound weight throw at this year’s NCAA Indoor Championships. Other LSU athletes looking to qualify for the NCAA Mideast Regional Championships this week in their outdoor season opener include Coppage (long jump), senior Patrick Lee (400 hurdles), sophomore Tenaya Jones (100 hurdles) and freshman Michael Lauro (hammer throw). “We’re rested and ready to go,” Shaver said. “For many of our athletes, it will be their first time competing this outdoor season, and it will be good for them to get it kicked off here at home.” After wrapping up the LSU Relays on Saturday, the squads will make their annual trip to Austin, Texas, to compete in the prestigious 82nd Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays at Mike A. Myers Stadium from April 2-4. The Tigers and Lady Tigers will then travel straight to Tempe, Ariz., for Spring Break where they are set to compete in the Sun Angel Classic from April 10-11.