BATON ROUGE — The LSU track and field team will welcome a field of 28 teams to the Carl Maddox Field House on Saturday afternoon for the LSU Purple Tiger Invitational, the 2002 home opener for Pat Henry‘s squads.
His Tigers and Lady Tigers both find themselves ranked third in the national rankings after strong opening performances at the SEC Six-Way in Fayetteville, Ark., last Friday. This weekend challenge gets bigger, as prominent programs such as Texas (men), Alabama (women), Baylor, Houston, Arizona State and Rice prepare to lineup against LSU.
In addition, a majority of the Louisiana schools will be on hand for the biggest collegiate competition to be held at the Carl Maddox Field House. Field events will get underway at 1 p.m., with track events starting at 4 p.m.
“It’s the biggest competition we’ve ever hosted indoors, number-wise,” said Henry. “We’ve got a fantastic field coming in, one that will create a very competitive environment. We’d like to bring everyone along a little bit more this weekend on both sides. We had a very encouraging opener last weekend and now we’ll look to get a little better.”
The Lady Tigers posted seven NCAA provisional qualifiers last weekend, five of which came on the track. Muna Lee (60), Lolo Jones (60h), Stephanie Durst (200), Ronetta Smith (400) and Marian Burnett (800) all posted provisional marks on the track, while newcomers Andria Booker (long jump) and Nicole Toney (triple jump) picked up marks in the field.
On the men’s side, in light action NCAA champion Walter Davis posted an automatic qualifier in the triple jump, while the Tigers got provisional marks from its NCAA champion 4×400-meter relay and Javier Nieto in the 35-lb. weight throw.
Following the LSU Purple Tiger Invitational, both squads take to the road for crucial competitions. Next weekend LSU will travel to Nebraska for the Adidas Invitational at the brand new Bob Devaney Sports Center, viewed as one of the best new indoor facilities in the country. The following weekend LSU travels to New York City for the Meet of Champions at the famed Armory.