BATON ROUGE — LSU’s top-ranked Lady Tigers and second-ranked Tigers travel to Lexington, Ky., this weekend for the SEC Indoor Track and Field Championships at the Nutter Fieldhouse.
Competition will begin Friday with the women’s pentathlon and the men’s heptathlon and will continue Friday and Saturday with the field and running events.
This year’s meet will once again be a premier event as the top-three men’s teams in the country as well as five others ranked among the top-25 will all be in attendance. The women’s meet will feature seven top-25 teams, including four top-10 programs.
Defending SEC and NCAA Indoor champion, Arkansas, will be the team to beat in the men’s race, as they enter the competition with the nation’s No. 1 ranking. The Razorbacks will be challenged by LSU, Auburn and Florida who rank second, third and sixth, respectively, in the national rankings.
Jumpers John Moffitt and LeJuan Simon as well as sprinters Kelly Willie and Pete Coley will likely anchor the Tiger squad this weekend.
Moffitt, the defending SEC champion in the long jump, enters the meet with the SEC and NCAA’s best distance in the event (27-1 3/4), as well as the conference’s third-best mark in the triple jump (54-4).
Simon owns the SEC’s second best triple jump mark (55-5 3/4) and third-best long jump distance (25-7 1/4).
Coley and Willie rank No. 2 and No. 6, respectively, in the conference in the 400 meters and will both be key contributors on the Tigers’ 4×400-meter relay team.
On the women’s side, the Lady Tigers enter the meet with the nation’s No. 1 ranking. However, the team race will likely be a tight one as Florida, Tennessee, Georgia and Arkansas are all fielding strong teams that currently rank among the top-12.
In the 20-year history of the women’s SEC meet, LSU has won a conference-leading 10 SEC Indoor titles. The Lady Tigers last won team gold during the 1999 season.
LSU will rely on its three returning SEC champions as it aims for the top of the team standings.
Muna Lee will shoot for an unprecedented fourth straight conference title in the 200 meters. Lee, who is riding a 10-race win streak in the event, enters the meet with the second-best time in the SEC and the NCAA this season (23.06).
Lolo Jones will aim for a third consecutive title in the hurdles, while Hazelann Regis will be defending her conference crown in the 400 meters.
Jones owns the No. 1 time in the SEC and the No. 2 time in the NCAA (8.10) in the 60-meter hurdles this season. Regis, who is undefeated in the quartermile this season, also owns the top time in the conference and the No. 2 in the country to date (51.89).
Following the SEC Championships, LSU athletes who have not yet qualified for the NCAA Championships will have two final opportunities to earn an automatic bid to the national meet. LSU will host the Last Chance Meet, Fri., March 5, at the Carl Maddox Fieldhouse and Iowa State will host the NCAA Qualifiers, Sat., March 6, at the Lied Center.