BATON ROUGE — The LSU women’s track and field program has a long tradition of strong hurdlers, boasting three of the last five NCAA champions in the 100-meter hurdles. Friday morning LSU head coach Pat Henry received a letter of intent from standout hurdler Ranysha LeBlanc of Port Arthur, Texas, an athlete he hopes will continue the Lady Tigers’ tradition.
LeBlanc, a senior at Lincoln High School, ranked fourth in the nation in both the 100 and 300-meter hurdles in her junior year and is the No. 2 returnee in the nation in this, her senior season. LeBlanc owns personal bests of 13.51 and 41.29 seconds respectively in each event.
“Ranysha is someone that obviously we’ve been aware of for a number of years now, she’s had an outstanding reputation as one of the top up-and-coming hurdlers in the nation,” said Henry. “She is the best in the state of Texas which lends great credibility to her credentials. She has tremendous potential and we are certainly thrilled that she has chosen to attend LSU.”
In each of the past two seasons LeBlanc has won the Texas Class 4A state title in both the 100 and 300-meter hurdles. She will compete in her senior season this spring, then attend LSU in the fall of 2001.
LeBlanc is the first athlete to sign with the LSU track and field team during the early signing period, although Henry alluded that he may receive papers on several additional athletes before the signing period closes.