BATON ROUGE — LSU’s top-ranked Lady Tigers and fifth-ranked Tigers begin the 2004 track and field season Friday when they travel to Fayetteville, Ark., for the Arkansas Invitational.
The meet will begin at noon at the Randal Tyson Track Center, site of the 2004 NCAA Indoor Championships.
LSU will get an early taste of SEC competition as Alabama, Arkansas, Ole Miss and Mississippi State are all scheduled to participate.
LSU is coming off yet another sensational season under the direction of head coach Pat Henry, as the Lady Tigers swept the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor titles for the ninth time in school history and the men finished among the top-four at both the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships.
This season, the Lady Tigers return all but one athlete off their 2003 national championship squads, a group that includes two individual NCAA champions, one national champion relay team and eight All-Americans.
Reigning 60 and 200-meter national champion Muna Lee headlines the talented pool of athletes that also includes the NCAA’s 60-meter hurdles champion, Lolo Jones, and All-Americans Neisha Bernard-Thomas, Nadia Davy, Stephanie Durst, Monique Hall, Hazelann Regis and Nicole Toney.
The men also return a wealth of talent as six All-Americans off last year’s indoor squad dot the 2004 roster. In addition, the Tigers’ return three legs off its national champion 4×400-meter relay team in Bennie Brazell, Pete Coley and Kelly Willie.
Following the Arkansas Invitational, the LSU track and field team returns to Baton Rouge to open the indoor home schedule with the Purple Tiger Invitational, Jan. 24, at the Carl Maddox Fieldhouse.