BATON ROUGE — The second-ranked LSU men’s track and field team and seventh-ranked Lady Tigers will have once last opportunity to add to their already long list of NCAA qualifiers on Friday at the LSU Last Ditch at Bernie Moore Track Stadium. Field events get underway at 2 p.m., while track events get underway at 5:30 p.m.
“Something good always comes out of this meet,” said LSU head coach Pat Henry. “It always makes for an interesting competition because you have a number of hungry athletes that leave it all out there because they know that this is their last shot to make nationals. Somebody always comes out of this meet and then shakes up the form charts at the NCAA Championships.”
The LSU Last Ditch is one of only five qualifiers around the country this weekend.
Several athletes will be among LSU’s top priorities in their final push to send additional athletes to the upcoming NCAA Outdoor Championships.
SEC long jump champion Myra Combs and runner-up Chenelle Marshall on are the bubble for qualifying in the long jump and will attempt to improve their provisional status on Friday. The two sit 15th and 19th nationally.
Elsewhere for the Lady Tigers, SEC steeplechase runner-up Susanne Strunz will take her last shot at becoming LSU’s first distance qualifier since the 1998 indoor season. Strunz currently sits 22nd in the NCAA rankings.
On the men’s side, Javier Nieto enters Friday’s competition ranked 17th in the hammer, but will likely have to throw farther than his opening week outing of 207-2 on March 17 to qualify for his third straight NCAA meet.
The 400-meter dash becomes very important for the Tigers. LSU already has SEC runner-up Alleyne Francique qualified with the second fastest time in the country, but would like to add to that with Lueroy Colquhoun, an All-American in the event during the 2000 indoor season.
Freshman Pete Coley, the third leg of the Tigers’ SEC champion 4×400-meter relay team will also run his first open quarter of the season. To set the pace, LSU school record-holder and two-time SEC 400-meter champion Derrick Brew will enter the field.
Elsewhere, the Tigers will attempt to solidify their position in the 4×100-meter relay. The Tigers already rank in the top 10 in the nation in the event, but are still on the provisional list and will attempt to register an automatic time to guarantee a spot in the national field.
Following the LSU Last Ditch, those athletes who have qualified will head to venerable Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., for the NCAA Outdoor Championships from May 3-June 2. The Lady Tigers are the defending champions, while the Tigers placed fifth a year ago.