BATON ROUGE — The LSU track and field team welcomes a field of 25 teams, including most of the major Louisiana schools, to the LSU Purple Tiger Invitational at the Carl Maddox Field House on Saturday. Preliminary rounds get underway at 10 a.m. while finals begin at 3:45 p.m.
LSU will look to build upon an encouraging season-opening meet last weekend that saw the men’s and women’s teams combine to win eight events despite using a limited roster.
“We’ll step it up a little more this week and be a little more aggressive in our use of certain athletes, we’ll double more athletes this week,” said LSU head coach Pat Henry. “It’s a good competition, most of the top schools in Louisiana will be on hand along with a few other top schools. With critical meets at Florida and Arkansas on very good tracks immediately following this meet, this is a good opportunity to prepare for the next couple weeks.”
Louisiana schools on hand this weekend include Louisiana-Lafayette, Northwestern State, Louisiana-Monroe, Southeastern Louisiana, McNeese State and UNO. Traditional track power Texas-El Paso heads the list of out of state schools that will be in the field on Saturday.
The men’s triple jump figures to be one of the top events on Saturday with SEC Outdoor champion Marcus Thomas making his 2001 debut in the event. In addition, LSU newcomer Walter Davis, held out of last week’s meet at the last minute, is expected to make his much-anticipated debut. Davis was a 2000 American Olympian and finished 11th in the event at the Sydney games.
In addition, 2000 junior college 400-meter national champion Alleyne Francique will run in the open quarter field for the first time in an LSU uniform. Francique anchored the Tigers to a second place finish in the mile relay behind Auburn in the most exciting race of the SEC Quadrangular last weekend.
On the women’s side, the Lady Tigers’ young hurdling corps will attempt to build on last weekend’s 1-4 finish at the SEC Quadrangular highlighted by a victory by freshman Lolo Jones and a second place finish by senior April Sams.
Ronetta Smith made a successful LSU debut last weekend looking particularly sharp in the 400-meter dash, winning the event in a time of 55.12 seconds.
Smith will compete in the quarter once again this weekend and possibly the 200-meter dash for training purposes.
After a high NCAA provisional mark in the triple jump last weekend, Bianca Rockett will move over to the long jump this weekend, while Myra Combs will also look to improve upon her 19 foot 9 inch opener in the long jump last weekend.
Sa’Donna Thornton headlines the 60-meter dash field after picking up a win in the Lady Tigers’ season opener last weekend. Thornton, a 2000 All-American in the event, opened with a victorious 7.42, an NCAA provisional qualifying mark.
Following the LSU Purple Tiger Invitational, both squads prepare for a pair of critical meets, as they will travel to the Gator Invitational at Florida next weekend followed by the Tyson Invitational at Arkansas the following weekend. Both meets will be run on tracks renowned for yielding top NCAA qualifying times.