AUSTIN, Texas — The NCAA Indoor champion Lady Tiger track team, as well as the fourth-ranked Tiger squad travel to Austin, Texas, this week to participate in the 76th-annual Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays. The meet will beheld at UT’s Mike A. Myers Stadium with action beginning Thursday and continuing through Saturday evening.
“It’s early in the season and this is a big meet,” said LSU head coach Pat Henry. “It gives us an opportunity to find out a little more about ourselves. It’s an extremely competitive environment that will allow us gauge how far we’ve progressed up until this point.”
LSU will begin competition Thursday as throwers Mallory McDonald and Kellee Monet Rice kick off the action for the Lady Tigers in the hammer throw.
Distance runner Katie Denton will also get into the action in the 5,000-meter run, while Althea Thomas will participate in the prelims of the 400-meter hurdles.
For the men, Ryan Gallup will challenge the competition in the 5,000 meters Thursday, while the Tigers will also run the 4×800-meter relay for the first time this season.
Action will continue Friday and Saturday as the majority of the field and running events get underway. Three-time national champion, Muna Lee, will challenge some of the nation’s best in the 100 meters as she enters the meet with the NCAA’s second-best time this season.
Hazelann Regis and Neisha Bernard-Thomas should challenge the talented field in the 400 and 800-meter events, respectively, as they each own top-five times in country.
On the men’s side, All-American Kelly Willie ran the NCAA’s third-best time in the 200 meters a week ago and will look to take that speed into the 4×400-meter relay. Anchored by Willie, the Tigers will challenge for their second consecutive Texas Relays title in the event.
After the completion of the Texas Relays, the LSU track and field team will return home to host the LSU Alumni Gold Invitational, April 11-12.