BATON ROUGE — LSU’s Lady Tiger track and field team will conclude the indoor season right where they began it, at No. 1 in the Trackwire 25 rankings, while the Tigers will finish at No. 2 in the final poll released before this weekend’s NCAA Indoor Championships.
The Lady Tiger held the nation’s top ranking for each of the nine weeks the poll was published this season.
The Tigers, who fell to No. 4 last week after five consecutive weeks at the No. 2, bounced back to that No. 2 slot in the final poll.
The Lady Tigers (54 points) are trailed closely in the standings by No. 2 Florida (53), while Texas is No. 3 (45) and Nebraska (43) and Tennessee (39) round out the top five.
In the men’s standings, defending national champion, Arkansas, maintains a strong led on the competition with 70 points to the Tigers’ 43 points. SEC foe Auburn is on the Tigers’ heels with 42 points, while Florida and Michigan follow with 29 and 28 points, respectively.
LSU will enter the meet with 12 of its athletes and both of its relay teams ranked among the top-12.
15-time All-American Muna Lee and the women’s 4×400-meter relay team each hold down No. 1 rankings in the final poll.
Lee, the defending national champion in the 60-meter dash, earned top billing in the event for the second straight week, while the 4×400 squad of Hazelann Regis, Neisha Bernard- Thomas, Monique Hall and Nadia Davy climbed into the nation’s top spot in the event after recording an NCAA-leading mark of 3:29.42 at the SEC Championships.
Competition from the NCAA Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., will begin Friday afternoon and run through Saturday evening at the Randal Tyson Track Center. The Lady Tigers enter the meet as the two-time defending national champions, while the Tigers will look to improve upon their third-place finish from a year ago.
Women’s Trackwire 25 – March 9
1. LSU, 54
2. Florida, 53
3. Texas, 45
4. Nebraska, 43
5. Tennessee, 39
6. UCLA, 36
7. Georgia, 34
8. South Carolina, 30
9. Stanford, 25
10. Providence, 22
11. BYU, 19
12. Arkansas, 18
12. Miami, 18
14. North Carolina, 17
15. Akron, 15
16. Northern Arizona, 14
17. Cal Poly, 11
18. Notre Dame, 10
18. Georgia Tech, 10
18. Auburn, 10
18. Michigan, 10
22. Georgetown, 9
22. West Virginia, 9
22. Kansas State, 9
25. Mississippi State, 8
25. SMU, 8
Men’s Trackwire 25 – March 9
1. Arkansas, 70
2. LSU, 43
3. Auburn, 42
4. Florida, 29
5. Michigan, 28
6. Texas, 25
7. Nebraska, 24
8. Minnesota, 21
9. BYU, 20
10. Baylor, 19
11. UCLA, 18
11. Oregon, 18
11. Stanford, 18
11. Ohio State, 18
15. TCU, 17
16. South Carolina, 16
16. Indiana, 16
18. Purdue, 14
19. Iona, 13
20. Arizona State, 12
20. Kansas State, 12
22. Wisconsin, 11
22. Georgia, 11
24. Washington State, 9
24. Arizona, 9
24. Eastern Michigan, 9