BATON ROUGE — LSU sprint sensation Muna Lee was named the USA Track and Field Women’s South Central Regional Athlete of the Year it was announced today. Lee will be presented with her award Thursday night at a banquet in Fayetteville, Ark., site of this weekend’s NCAA Indoor Championships.
USATF will announce its selections for the Men’s and Women’s Athlete of the Year Tuesday, March 18, following the NCAA Indoor Championships.
Lee, a junior from Kansas City, Mo., enters the indoor national championships ranked No. 1 in the nation in both the 60 and 200-meter dash events. Two weeks ago Lee became just the first women in SEC Championship history to win three consecutive titles in the 200 meters as she cruised to victory, posting the nation’s top-time in the event this season, 23.03. The six-time SEC champion also turned in a second-place finish in the 55-meter dash at that conference championship meet.
A 10-time All-American, Lee remains unbeaten in 200 meter competition this season as she has won five straight 200 meter races when including preliminary round competitions.
Earlier this season, Lee rewrote the Lady Tiger record books clocking a school and Carl Maddox Fieldhouse record in the 60-meter dash at LSU’s own Purple Tiger Invitational. Lee’s blistering time of 7.20 seconds bettered the previous school record mark of 7.21 that she co-held with Olympian and six-time NCAA champion D’Andre Hill. In addition her time bested the Carl Maddox Fieldhouse record of 7.23 second set by Olympian and 19-time All-American Peta-Gaye Dowdie in 1998.
Lee and the rest of the LSU track and field team returns to action Friday and Saturday, March 14-15, at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Lee looks to lead the Lady Tigers to their second consecutive indoor national crown as she defends her national title in the 200 meters and eyes the nation’s top spot in the 60 meters as well.