BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s track and field team will face an uphill battle in its quest to defend its NCAA Indoor title, as the Tigers have been picked third in the Trackwire preseason Top 25 rankings, announced on Wednesday morning.
The Lady Tigers have been picked to finish fourth in the women’s poll.
“It’s great to see both of our programs in the top five in the nation,” said LSU head coach Pat Henry. “I think it speaks volumes for the respect of our total program. At the same time, it’s not where you start, it’s where you finish. We’re the defending champion on the men’s side and I think we’ll have our shot at it again if we stay healthy, we return just about everyone.”
Trackwire selected defending NCAA Outdoor champion Tennessee as its preseason No. 1 with 44 points, followed by Alabama with 41 and LSU and Arkansas with 39 each. Point totals are based on the projected number of points each team will score at the NCAA Championships. The No. 3 ranking is the highest the Tigers have ever enjoyed to begin an indoor season.
The Tigers edged TCU by a point for the 2001 NCAA Indoor crown, 34-33. LSU returns 33 of the 34 points from last year’s squad, including NCAA triple jump champion and long jump runner-up Walter Davis and each of the four members of its world-leading 4×400-meter relay team.
South Carolina enters the 2002 season as an overwhelming favorite to unseat two-time defending NCAA Indoor champions UCLA on the women’s side. South Carolina picked up 58 points in the first poll, easily outdistancing second-ranked Florida with 46. Arizona is ranked third, followed by the Lady Tigers and UCLA.
The Lady Tigers return five All-Americans off of last year’s squad that finished 14th indoors and sixth outdoors. Muna Lee returns for her sophomore season as one of the hottest young names in the sport after sweeping the 100 and 200 titles at the SEC Championships, while anchoring the Lady Tigers to an NCAA title in the 4×100-meter relay.
The 2002 indoor season opens on Friday for both the Tigers and Lady Tigers at the SEC Six-Way in Fayetteville, Ark., the same track that will host both the SEC and NCAA Indoor Championships this season.
LSU returns home next weekend for its 2002 home opener on Saturday at the Purple Tiger Invitational at the Carl Maddox Field House.
Trackwire 2002 Preseason Poll (Top 10 only)
Men
1. Tennessee 44
2. Alabama 41
3. LSU 39
Arkansas 39
5. TCU 33
6. Florida 25
Michigan 25
8. Eastern Michigan 24
9. Stanford 18
George Mason 18
Women
1. South Carolina 58
2. Florida 46
3. Arizona 40
4. LSU 37
5. UCLA 35
6. North Carolina 21
Illinois 21
8. Clemson 20
Stanford 20
10. Colorado 18
Auburn 18