BATON ROUGE — Following an impressive win at the New Balance Collegiate Invitational over the weekend, the LSU men’s track and field team climbed one spot to No. 4 in the Coaches’ Poll, while remaining at No. 5 in the Trackwire 25 this week.
The women’s squad moved up one position to No. 6 in the Coaches’ Poll and leapt eight spots to No. 8 in the Trackwire 25.
In the men’s Coaches’ Poll, Texas overtook Arkansas for the No. 1 position. Florida State remained third, the Tigers moved up to fourth and Tennessee crept into the top five.
The Trackwire standings have Florida State and Texas tied at No. 1 this week with 46 points a piece. Wisconsin and Arkansas trail with 45 and 43 points, respectively, while the Tigers hold down the No. 5 position for the fourth straight week with 39 points.
South Carolina tops the women’s ranks in both the Coaches’ Poll and the Trackwire 25. The Gamecocks lead Texas, Stanford, Tennessee and Nebraska among the top five of the Coaches’ Poll.
South Carolina (44) holds a three-point led over Michigan (41) in the Trackwire 25. Texas (37), Nebraska (35) and Stanford (32) round out the top five.
In the Dandy Dozen individual rankings, LSU has nine athletes and three relay teams ranked among the nation’s top 12.
Sophomore Xavier Carter and senior Kelly Willie are ranked No. 1 in the country in the 200 meters and the 400 meters, respectively. Willie also entered the 200 meter standings at No. 5 this week. In addition, both Carter and Willie run on the 4×400 relay team that is listed at No. 1 for the fourth straight week.
The Lady Tigers took over the nation’s top spot in the 4×400 relay after posting an NCAA-leading time of 3:34.15 at the New Balance Invitational.
Entering the ranks for the first time this season are the men’s distance medley relay team and senior Edwin Billot. The DMR cracked the standings at No. 8 after an NCAA leading and school record breaking performance over the weekend.
Billot made it into the men’s heptathlon rankings at No. 11.
Joining Billot in the heptathlon ranks is senior Darion Powell in the No. 5 position.
Sophomore sprinters Kelly Baptiste and Brooklynn Morris headline ranked Lady Tigers. Baptiste is listed at No. 2 in the 200 meters and No. 4 in the 60 meters, while Morris is eighth in the 200 and 11th in the 60.
Other ranked Lady Tigers included sophomore Deonna Lawrence in the 400 meters (7th), junior Tina Harris in the long jump (9th) and sophomore Jessica Ohanaja in the 60-meter hurdles (11th).
Both the Tigers and Lady Tigers return to action this week when they travel to Fayetteville, Ark., for the Tyson Invitational, Feb. 10-11.
Coaches’ Poll
MEN
1. Texas; 2. Arkanas; 3. Florida St.; 4. LSU; 5. Tennessee; 6. Wisconsin; 7. Nebraska; 8. Michigan; 9. Texas A&M; 10. Arizona; 11. Oregon; 12. Virginia Tech; 13. Baylor; 14. Florida; 15. South Carolina; 16. Kansas; 17. Auburn; 18. USC; 19. Indiana; 20. Texas Tech
WOMEN
1. South Carolina; 2. Texas; 3. Stanford; 4. Tennessee; 5. Nebraska; 6. LSU; 7. USC; 8. Arizona State; 9. Michigan; 10. UCLA; 11. Georgia; 12. Texas A&M; 13. North Carolina; 14. Alabama; 15. Auburn; 16. Miami; 17. Providence; 18. Duke; 19. Oregon; 20. Penn State
Trackwire 25
MEN
t1. Florida State, 46; t1. Texas, 46; 3. Wisconsin, 45; 4. Arkansas, 43; 5. LSU, 39; 6. Tennessee, 26; 7. Arizona, 25; 8. Kansas, 24; 9. Nebraska, 23; 10. Michigan, 19; t11. Virginia Tech, 18; t11. Texas A&M, 18; 13. Florida, 17; 14. Oregon, 14; t15. TCU, 12; t15. South Carolina, 12; t15. USC, 12; t15. Notre Dame, 12; t19. Baylor, 11; t19. Texas Tech, 11; t19. Alabama, 11; t19. Indiana, 11; 23. BYU, 10; t24. Auburn, 9; t24. Illinois, 9; t24. UCLA, 9.
WOMEN
1. South Carolina, 44; 2. Michigan, 41; 3. Texas, 37; 4. Nebraska, 35; 5. Stanford, 32; t6. Auburn, 31; t6. North Carolina, 31; 8. LSU, 26; 9. Arizona State, 22; t10. USC, 20; t10. Providence, 20; 12. Tennessee, 17; t13. Alabama, 16; t13. Villanova, 16; 15. Georgia, 15; 16. UCLA, 13; 17. Northern Arizona, 12; t18. Texas A&M , 11; t18. Minnesota, 11; t18. Washington State, 11; t21. Penn State, 10; t21. Southern Illinois, 10; t21. Oregon, 10; t21. SMU, 10; t21. Kansas State, 10.