BATON ROUGE — The LSU track and field team returns to action Sunday when it travels to Gainesville, Fla., for the Gator Invitational. The meet will be held at the UF’s O’Connell Center with running events slated to begin at 9 a.m. and field events starting at 10 a.m.
LSU will face some of the toughest competition in the nation as nine teams on the men’s side and five teams on the women’s side are ranked in this week’s Trackwire 25 power rankings. A sampling of the meet’s top competition includes No. 1 Florida, No. 5 South Carolina and No. 12 Auburn in the women’s meet and No. 4 Florida, No. 5 Tennessee and tied for No. 6 South Carolina and Mississippi State in the men’s meet.
Head coach Pat Henry plans to unleash some of his top guns for the first time this season as All-American Pete Coley is expected to make his debut in the open quarter, while fellow All-American Robert Parham will make just his second appearance in the 200 meters.
The Lady Tigers look to post an NCAA automatic qualifying time in the 4×400-meter relay after just missing provisional standards in the event at the season opening SEC West Challenge.
“This is the first facility we will run in this season that is really conducive to producing qualifying times in the 200, 400 and relay events,” said Henry. “We’ve had three meets to get prepared and we are certainly looking to get better and progress further this weekend.”
Following the Gator Invitational, the LSU track and field team returns to action Feb. 14-15 at the prestigious Armory Invitational in New York. The Tigers will then return home for the LSU Twilight, Feb. 21.