FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — After a final workout at the Randal Tyson Track Center Thursday afternoon the LSU track and field team is set for the NCAA Indoor Championships that will run this Friday and Saturday.
The defending indoor national champion Lady Tigers enter the meet with the nation’s No. 1 ranking for the second straight year, while the Tigers head into the meet ranked fourth in the country.
The LSU women have won a total of nine NCAA Indoor crowns, with eight of those titles coming in an 11 year span between 1987 and 1997. The men have one indoor national title to their credit (2001) and have finished among the top-10 five of the last seven years, including a third-place finish a year ago.
“You’ve got to come to this competition and do the best that you are capable of doing,” said LSU head coach Pat Henry. “Tomorrow will be the biggest part of the track meet. Hopefully you get to the next round of competition because that will be the biggest indicator of whether or not you are going to be successful.
“I don’t think there our any secrets. Everyone knows you have to come to the track ready to compete. The enthusiasm you have in your team and how you keep that enthusiasm, as well as how you weather the storms are the keys to being successful.”
The Lady Tigers’ success will also depend heavily on their depth in the short sprint and middle distance events. LSU has four athletes and a relay team ranked in the top five in the nation in races between the 60 and 800 meter range.
Junior Muna Lee paces the Lady Tiger squad as she enters the meet leading the nation in both the 60 and 200-meter dashes. Senior Marian Burnett also owns one of the nation’s top times as she comes to the meet with the NCAA’s leading mark in the 800 meters.
The men will rely mostly on the quarter-mile events and the horizontal jumps to score their points this weekend. Pete Coley and Kellie Willie will give the Tigers substantial scoring opportunities in the 400 meters, as both enter the meet ranked among the top-eight in the event.
Coley and Willie will also team with Marlon Greensword and Bennie Brazell as the foursome eyes the top of the awards stand in the 4×400-meter relay.
In the horizontal jumps John Moffitt and LeJuan Smith are each serious scoring threats in both the long and triple jumps. Moffitt enters the meet as the national leader in the long jump, while Simon ranks fifth in the triple jump.
Action from the Randal Tyson Track Center will begin tomorrow with the field events starting at noon and running events following at 4 p.m.