BATON ROUGE — Both the Tigers and Lady Tigers track and field teams will enter this weekend’s SEC Indoor Championships with Top-5 national rankings as the Tigers remained No. 1 in the Trackwire 25 for a second-straight week while slipping one spot to No. 3 in the Coaches’ Poll. The Lady Tigers held steady in both polls, coming in at No. 4 in the Coaches’ Poll and No. 5 in the Trackwire 25 this week.
The Tigers maintained their lead in the Trackwire standings with 47 points. Arkansas and Texas are close behind with 45 and 42 points, respectively, while Florida State and Wisconsin share the No. 4 position with 32 points each.
In the Coaches’ Poll, Arkansas took over the top spot from Texas who dropped to No. 2 followed by LSU, Florida State and Wisconsin.
On the women’s side, Trackwire’s top five remained unchanged from a week ago with Texas (51), Stanford (39), South Carolina (37), Nebraska (34) and LSU (30) holding down the positions.
The Coaches’ poll has a new No. 1 as Texas displaced South Carolina for the top spot. Stanford is third, followed by the Lady Tigers in fourth and Nebraska in fifth.
Individually, LSU has 11 athletes and three relay teams ranked among this week’s top 12.
Sophomore Xavier Carter is the nation’s top-ranked athlete in both the 200 and 400 meters again this week.
Senior Kelly Willie is listed at No. 2 in the 200 meters and enters the 60-meter ranks for the first time this season at No. 3.
Both Carter and Willie run on the Tigers’ 4×400-meter relay team that is ranked No. 1 for a sixth consecutive week.
In addition, the Tigers’ distance medley relay comes in at No. 9, while senior Darion Powell is listed at No. 6 in the heptathlon and Jeremy Hicks is listed at No. 11 in the long jump.
A trio of sophomores pace the Lady Tigers in the individual national rankings.
Kelly Baptiste is listed at No. 4 in the country in both the 60 and 200 meters, while Brooklynn Morris ranks fifth in the 200 and 11th in the 60.
Deonna Lawrence is sixth in the 400 meters.
All three run on the Lady Tigers’ top-ranked 4×400-meter relay team.
Junior Meisue Francis joined the national ranks for the first time this season. She is listed at No. 11 in the 800 meters.
Others in the rankings include junior Tina Harris (6th) and sophomore Kathy Coleman (12th) in the long jump and sophomore Jessica Ohanaja in the 60-meter hurdles (11th).
LSU returns to action this Friday through Sunday when they travel to Gainesville, Fla., for the SEC Indoor Championships at the O’ Connell Center.
Trackwire 25
MEN
1. LSU, 47; 2. Arkansas, 45; 3. Texas, 42; t4. Florida State, 32; t4. Wisconsin, 32; 6. Nebraska, 31; 7. Arizona, 29; 8. Baylor, 28; 9. Michigan, 27; 10. Tennessee, 26; 11. Virginia Tech, 20; 12. Kansas, 19; t13. Florida, 18; t13. Iona, 18; 15. Oregon, 16; 16. Texas A&M, 14; 17. TCU, 13; 18. UCLA, 11; t19. BYU, 10; t19. Stanford, 10; t19. Oral Roberts, 10; t22. Notre Dame, 9; t22. Indiana, 9; t24. UTEP, 8; t24. USC, 8.
WOMEN
1. Texas, 51; 2. Stanford, 39; 3. South Carolina, 37; 4. Nebraska, 34; 5. LSU, 30; 6. Auburn, 27; 7. North Carolina, 25; t8. Tennessee, 21; t8. Michigan, 21; 10. Providence, 20; t11. Arizona State, 19; t11. USC, 19; 13. Georgia, 18; t14. UCLA, 17; t14. Villanova, 17; t16. Alabama, 14; t16. Miami, 14; t16. Southern Illinois, 14; t19. Villanova, 13; t19. Penn State, 13; 21. Northern Arizona, 12; t22. Oregon, 10; t22. Minnesota, 10; t22. Washington State, 10; t22. Florida State, 10.
Coaches’ Poll
MEN
1. Arkansas; 2. Texas; 3. LSU; 4. Florida St.; 5. Wisconsin; 6. Nebraska; 7. Tennessee; 8. Michigan; 9. Arizona; 10. Virginia Tech; 11. Baylor; 12. Florida; 13. Kansas; 14. Texas A&M; 15. Oregon; 16. Iona; 17. South Carolina; 18. UCLA; 19. USC; 20. Texas Tech
WOMEN
1. Texas; 2. South Carolina; 3. Stanford; 4. LSU; 5. Nebraska; 6. Michigan; 7. Tennessee; 8. Auburn; 9. North Carolina; 10. Arizona State; 11. USC; 12. Providence; 13. Georgia; 14. UCLA; 15. Alabama; 16. Miami; 17. Villanova; 18. Oregon; 19. Penn State; 20. Texas A&M