BATON ROUGE — LSU returns to the track Saturday when it travels to Tempe, Ariz., for the Sun Angel Classic.
The Arizona State-hosted event will be held at Sun Devil Stadium. Action in the field events begins at 11 a.m. (CT). Running events follow at 6 p.m.
“This meet should be interesting,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “This is our first meet of the outdoor season where all of the individual events are going to be offered, so it’s giving many of the athletes the opportunity to run in their specialty events.”
“The team also knows the competition is going to be tough so they need to line up and be ready to run,” added Shaver.
LSU will face some of the stiffest competition in the country as nationally ranked UCLA, Arizona State, Washington and Auburn highlight the field.
A few ready to take on that talent will be Tiger Kelly Willie and Lady Tigers Ashley Owens and Kelly Baptiste.
Willie, a 2004 Olympic gold medalist in the 4×400-meter relay, will take to the track in the 400 meters for the first time this outdoor season. Owens and Baptiste will also be making their debuts in the 200 meters.
All three will also run on their respective 4×100-meter relay teams. The Tigers enter the meet with the nation’s top time in the event (38.94), but will be without the services of freshman standout Xavier Carter who will remain at home to participate in the football team’s final spring scrimmage. Fellow freshman Richard Thompson will likely fill in.
The Lady Tigers will look to improve on their regional qualifying time of 44.89 posted at last week’s Texas Relays.
In the field, All-Americans Tina Harris and Willie Bradley will also be in action. Harris is set to compete in the long jump, while Bradley is slated for the triple jump.
Following the Sun Angel Classic, LSU returns to Baton Rouge for its final home meet of the outdoor season, the LSU Alumni Gold. The meet will take place April 23 at Bernie Moore Stadium.