BATON ROUGE -- The accolades continue to roll in for sophomore sprinter Xavier Carter as he was named the NCAA Division I Men\'s Indoor Track Athlete of the Year by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Friday.
Carter capped a stellar indoor season last weekend at the NCAA Championships, winning the 400 meters, anchoring the Tigers\' to gold in the 4x400-meter relay and finishing second in the 200 meters.
Carter, just the second Tiger in school history to ever win the 400 meters at the indoor national meet, did so in school record time as he crossed the line in blazing 45.28 speed. The time, a new personal best, ranks as the third fastest in collegiate history and was the fastest in the world on record during the 2006 season, even bettering the winning time of 45.54 at the IAAF World Indoor Championships.
In addition, the open quarter victory wrapped up an undefeated season for Carter in the event as he won seven straight 400-meter races when including preliminary and final rounds.
In the 200 meters, Carter moved to fifth on the all-time collegiate list with his 20.30 clocking in the finals. The time, Carter\'s second school record and personal best of the weekend, ranks as the eighth fastest time ever run in the world.
After two long days of sprinting Carter was quite done as he ran a 45.9 second final-leg split to lead LSU to victory with a near collegiate record time of 3:04.01. The time, just one-half second shy of the collegiate mark, established a new school record, bettering the time of 3:04.44 set by Tigers Robert Parham, Lueroy Colquhoun, Pedro Tunon and Alleyne Francique in 2001.
The win capped a near flawless season for the Tigers\' relay squad as they won five of six meet titles on the season, with the only second-place finish coming to Team USA who set a new world record in the event at the head-to-head match-up during the Tyson Invitational.