BATON ROUGE — Eight All-Americans dot the list of 12 athletes and two relay teams the LSU track and field team has qualified in the NCAA Indoor Championships to be held this Friday and Saturday at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Ark.
The Lady Tigers will bring eight athletes and their 4×400-meter relay team to the championship meet, while the Tigers’ team will consist of four athletes and a 4×400 relay as well.
Despite their smaller the numbers, each member of the Tiger squad has the ability to score significant points towards the team standings as the men’s squad enters the meet ranked No. 3 in the Trackwire 25 and No. 4 in the Coaches’ Poll.
Providing a solid 1-2 punch in the sprint events for the Tigers are sophomore Xavier Carter and senior Kelly Willie.
Carter enter enters the meet ranked No. 1 in the country in both the 200 and 400 meters according to the Dandy Dozen individual rankings. The three-time All-American aims to become the first athlete in NCAA history to ever sweep the indoor 200 and 400 meter titles as he enters the competition with a NCAA-leading time of 45.89 seconds in the 400 meters and the nation’s third-best time in the 200 meters (20.74).
Willie we be one of Carter’s biggest challengers in the 200 meters as the current SEC champion owns the nation’s second fastest time in the event this season (20.74). Willie, a 14-time All-American, will also compete in the 60-meter dash, an event in which he enters the competition having posted a top time of 6.68 seconds.
Both Carter and Willie will headline the Tigers’ top-ranked 4×400-meter relay team that have posted the fastest time in the NCAA and the second-fastest mark in the world this season (3:05.28). Rounding out the relay foursome will be sophomore Reggie Dardar, who ran on the Tigers’ collegiate record-setting relay team during the 2005 outdoor season, and junior Melville Rogers.
The Tigers will also be represented by a talented duo, in seniors Darion Powell and Edwin Billot in the heptathlon competition. Powell, LSU’s school record holder in the event, enters the meet with the field’s eight-best point total (5,521), while Billot, the 2006 SEC champion, enters the competition with the 10th-best point total (5,504).
For the Lady Tigers, their top-ranked and undefeated 4×400-meter relay headlines the list of championship entrants.
All-Americans Brooklynn Morris and Deonna Lawrence as well as Juanita Broaddus and Cynetheia Rooks will comprise the long relay foursome has posted a top time (3:30.49) that is over one full second fastest then than championship field.
Individually, Morris and fellow sophomore Kelly Baptiste will each represent the Lady Tigers in both the 60 and 200 meters.
Baptiste, a three-time All-American, has posted that nation’s third best time in the 200 meters (23.07) and the seventh-best mark in the 60 meters (7.26) this season, while Morris, also an All-American competitor, is ranked fifth in the 200 meters (23.35) and 17th in the 60 (7.33) on the national descending order list.
The Lady Tigers will also have two athletes in the 400 meters, in junior Cynetheia Rooks and sophomore Deonna Lawrence.
Rooks, who will be making her first appearance at the NCAA Championships, enters the competition with the field’s ninth-best time (53.24).
Lawrence, a two-time NCAA qualifier in the event, will be seeking her first All-America honor in the open quarter as she looks to build off her season-best effort of 53.46.
Junior Tanya Osbourne, who will be making her second career trip to the NCAA meet, will be after her first All-America honor in the 800 meters as she is ranked 10th in the event with a time of 2:06.02.
In the field, the LSU women will be represented by junior Tina Harris in the long jump and senior Megan Akre in the pentathlon.
Harris, a 2004 All-American in the long jump, has posted a season-best leap of 20-9 ? will shoot for a second national honor this weekend.
Akre, the 2006 SEC pentathlon champion, will be making her first ever appearance at the national championships after notching a career-best 3,971 points at the conference meet.
Action from Arkansas’ Randal Tyson Track Center begins Friday at 9 a.m.
LSU’S 2006 NCAA INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS COMPETITORS
Men
Athlete Event Top Time/Mark
Edwin Billot Heptathlon 5,504
Xavier Carter 200 meters/400 meters 20.74/45.89
Darion Powell Heptathlon 5,521
Kelly Willie 60 meters/200 meters 6.68/20.64
Willie, Dardar, Rogers, Carter 4×400 relay 3:05.28
Women
Athlete Event Top Time/Mark
Megan Akre Pentathlon 3,971
Kelly Baptiste 60 meters/200 meters 7.26/23.07
Tina Harris Long jump 20-9 3/4
Deonna Lawrence 400 meters 53.46
Brooklynn Morris 60 meters/200 meters 7.33/23.35
Jessica Ohanaja 60H 8.19
Tanya Osbourne 800 2:06.02
Cynetheia Rooks 400 53.24
Morris, Baptiste, Broaddus, Lawrence 4×400 3:30.43