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 take place this Friday and Saturday.
The two-time defending national champion Lady Tigers enter the meet with the nation’s No. 1 ranking for the third straight year, while the Tigers come into the meet ranked No. 2.
The Lady Tigers have won 10 NCAA Indoor titles in the program’s storied history, a total that includes eight titles in an 11-year span between 1987 and 1997.
The Tigers, who have finished among the field’s top-10 six of the last eight years, won their first and only NCAA Indoor crown in 2001.
“I think this is going to be a very close competition,” said LSU head coach Pat Henry. “If our athletes do what they are capable of doing I think we can put ourselves in position to be among the top-three with both the men and women.
“We have a very mature, senior group of athletes here. They have been through this war before and they understand what it takes to be good at this meet.”
The Lady Tigers, who return 56 of the 62 points scored at last year’s NCAA Championships, will once again depend heavily on its sprinters and hurdlers in their quest for a third straight national title.
15-time All-American Muna Lee headlines the Lady Tiger short sprint corp. The defending national champion in both the 60 and 200-meter dashes, Lee will be going for an unprecedented third straight title in the 200.
The senior from Kansas City, Mo., shattered the collegiate record in the event at last year’s national championships in Fayetteville and enters the meet with the field’s third-best time this season (22.97). She is also ranked No. 1 in the country in the 60-meters with her NCAA-leading time of 7.17.
Senior Lolo Jones will be back to defend an NCAA title of her own. The eight-time All-American from Des Moines, Iowa, won the 60-meter hurdles with a PR mark of 8.00 last year. She will put her two-year, eight-meet win streak in the event to the test when see lines up for Friday prelims.
The Tigers will rely primarily on its quartermilers and jumpers for the majority of its scoring opportunities.
All-Americans Kelly Willie and Pete Coley are both ranked among the top-10 in the 400 meters and could score some substantial points for the Tigers in the event. Willie earned All-America honors in the event as a freshman last season, while Coley was the NCAA runner-up in 2002.
Willie and Coley will also likely pair with All-Americans Robert Parham and Bennie Brazell as the foursome chases LSU’s second straight NCAA title in the 4×400-meter relay.
In the jumps, seniors John Moffitt and LeJuan Simon, will be dangerous in both the long and triple jumps, while junior Willie Bradley will be a threat in the triple jump.
Moffitt, who leads the nation in the long jump (27-1 3/4) and is third in the triple jump (54-4), earned All-America honors in both events a year ago.
Simon enters the competition at No. 2 in the triple jump (55-5 3/4) and No. 6 in the long jump (25-7 1/2). Bradley, in his first ever appearance at the NCAA Championships, is listed at No. 5 in the triple jump (53-6 1/4).
Action from the Randal Tyson Track Center will begin tomorrow at 9 a.m. with the men’s heptathlon competition. Field events will get underway at noon and running events will follow at 4:30 p.m.