BATON ROUGE — Following a breakout performance at the Gator Invitational at the University of Florida last weekend, LSU freshman Muna Lee was selected by the Southeastern Conference as its women’s track and field Athlete of the Week.
Lee, a native of Kansas City, Mo., claimed the 200-meter title in an NCAA-leading time of 23.44 seconds. The time is an NCAA automatic qualifying mark and is the fourth fastest time in the world this season.
The time registered by Lee set a new LSU freshman record in the event indoors, breaking the previous mark of former Lady Tiger All-American and Olympic Gold medalist Esther Jones, who ran a time of 23.58 in 1988.
Lee also finished second in the 55-meter dash at Florida with a time of 6.87, a time that converts to 7.37 at the NCAA Championship distance of 60 meters and ranks fourth in the nation.
Through three meets this season, Lee already has two titles and two runner-up finishes to her credit. Lee and her Lady Tiger teammates face their toughest test of the season this weekend when they travel to Fayetteville, Ark., the host track for the NCAA Indoor Championships next month, for the Tyson Invitational, a USA Track and Field Golden Spikes event.