BATON ROUGE — Great rivalries start and end when championships are on the line. In 1933, the LSU men’s track and field team, comprised of only six athletes, defeated a heavily favored Southern California squad for their first national title. Sixty-seven years later in 2000, the Lady Tiger track and field team upset a heavily favored Southern California squad to regain the national championship at Duke.
It is as good a combined rivalry as there is in the sport of track and field. And it will be renewed in a dual meet on Saturday for the fifth time in the last six years, as LSU travels to venerable Cromwell Field in Los Angeles to take on USC.
The women’s event places the reigning NCAA Outdoor champion Lady Tigers against the runner-up. The men’s competition places the NCAA Indoor champion Tigers against a team that annually finishes among the top five in the nation and has once again been picked to compete for the men’s title.
Saturday’s meet boasts the two most successful programs in collegiate track and field, as the teams have combined to win 52 NCAA titles between them – 28 by USC and 24 by LSU.
“When you talk track and field tradition, it doesn’t get a whole lot better than LSU and USC and this weekend should be no different,” said LSU head coach Pat Henry. “This meet brings together two schools that care a great deal about this sport and offers a look at what we’ll see at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
“(USC head coach) Ron Allice has been a friend of mine for 20 years – a very good friend in this profession. I know he wants to win this meet on Saturday and I do too and our friendship adds some fun to the competitive element of this meet.”
LSU returns to action after winning 17 events at the SEC Triangular at Bernie Moore Track Stadium last weekend. Most notably, the Lady Tigers’ relay posted a high NCAA provisional time of 44.19 seconds. The Lady Tigers currently have the second fastest time in the nation behind only USC, as the two figure to combine for an extremely fast time this weekend.
In addition, Javier Nieto posted an NCAA provisional mark in his victory in the hammer last weekend and will get a crack at NCAA leader Norbert Horvath of USC.
While LSU didn’t use a number of its top athletes last weekend, opting to rest them the week after the NCAA Indoor Championships, Henry will be much more aggressive in his use of both squads this weekend.
The Tigers will run half of their NCAA champion 4×400-meter relay, running Robert Parham and Pedro Tunon from their national champion team, while adding Peter Simon and Pete Cooley to the mix this weekend in an all freshmen squad. All-Americans Alleyne Francique and Lueroy Colquhoun will run in the open 400-meter dash on Saturday.
Several women’s sprinters will highlight the open track events on Saturday.
Sa’Donna Thornton will take on two-time defending NCAA champion Angela Williams in the 100-meter dash, while short hurdles All-American Lolo Jones will open up in the 100-meter hurdles. In addition, SEC 200-meter champion Muna Lee headlines the field in the deuce on Saturday.
USC will be well rested, as very few of its runners competed during the indoor season, as traditionally, USC opts to emphasize the outdoor events.
Following LSU’s dual meet with USC, both squads head to Houston next weekend for the Tom Tellez Invitational and the second of three straight meets on the road.