BATON ROUGE — The LSU track and field team returns to action this weekend when it travels to Nampa, Idaho, for the Boise State-hosted Holiday Inn Team Invitational, Feb. 11-12.
The meet will include over 20 collegiate teams from throughout the country, including nationally-ranked UCLA, Arizona State, Oregon and California.
“Size-wise this is the type of meet we need right now,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “It’s smaller than New York was last week, but it still has good competition and a great facility and we need to take advantage of that.”
LSU will look to add to its list of NCAA automatic qualifiers as junior Kelly Willie makes his season debut in his signature event, the 400 meters. The 2004 Olympian has already qualified to the national championships in the 200 meters.
Willie will also guide the efforts of the Tigers’ 4×400 relay team that will also be seeking the NCAA automatic standard after posting provisional marks twice this season.
For the women, freshmen sprinters Ashley Owens and Kelly Baptiste will look to get back on track in the short sprints after difficult performances at the Armory Invitational last week.
Olympian Hazelann Regis will also be action, running the 200 meters for the first time this season.
In the field, jumpers Tina Harris and LaToya Payne hope to continue their early season success in the long jump. Harris, ranked No. 2 in the country in the event, has already automatically qualified for the NCAA Championships, while Payne will be looking to join her after posting a provisional mark last week.
Following the Holiday Inn Team Invitational, the Tigers and Lady Tigers return to Baton Rouge for their final home meet of the indoor season when they host the LSU Twilight on Feb. 18.