BATON ROUGE — LSU’s men’s track and field team improved to No. 2 in the Trackwire 25 rankings and held steady at No. 3 in the Coaches’ Poll, while the Lady Tigers slipped one spot to No. 7 in the latest national rankings.
On the heels of an exceptional team effort at the Miami Elite Invitational last week, the Tigers jumped two spots into Trackwire’s No. 2 position with 48 points. Florida State tops the standings with 60 points. Arkansas (47) and UTEP (47) are tied at No. 3, while Texas (37) rounds out the top five.
The Coaches’ Poll also has Florida State topping the charts, followed by Arkansas, LSU, UTEP and Texas.
On the women’s side, Texas is listed at No. 1 in both the Trackwire 25 and the Coaches’ Poll. The Longhorns lead the Trackwire standings with 61 points and are followed by Miami (50), Southern California (45), Georgia (44), Nebraska (44), Arizona State (32) and LSU (31).
Behind Texas the coaches tabbed Southern California, Nebraska, Miami, Arizona State and Georgia ahead of the seventh-ranked Lady Tigers.
Individually, the Tigers and Lady Tigers have a combined 14 athletes and four relay teams ranked among the nation’s top 12 this week.
Sophomore Xavier Carter and senior Kelly Willie are the nation’s top-ranked 200 and 400-meter sprinters, respectively, for the third straight week.
In addition, they each run on both the Tigers’ 4×100 and 4×400 relays that are also ranked No. 1 for a third consecutive week.
Joining Willie in the quartermile rankings are sophomore Reggie Dardar and junior Melville Rogers who are listed No. 10 and No. 11 in the event..
The Tigers also have three athletes ranked in the decathlon competition as junior Alleyne Lett is sixth, senior Darion Powell is seventh and fellow senior Edwin Billot is 10th.
On the women’s side, both its 4×100 and 4×400-meter relay teams are ranked No. 2 in the country.
Contributing to those relays are individually ranked competitors Kelly Baptiste, Brooklynn Morris, Jessica Ohanaja, Deonna Lawrence and Cynetheia Rooks.
Baptiste is ranked second nationally in the 100 meters and 12th in the 200 meters. Joining her in the short sprint ranks is Morris who is listed at No. 9 in the 100 and No. 11 in the 200.
Ohanaja comes in at sixth in the 100-meter hurdles, while Lawrence and Rooks are ranked sixth and eighth, respectively, in the 400 meters.
Representing the Lady Tigers in the field is sophomore Andrea Linton. She cracked the standings in the No. 12 position.
The Tigers and Lady Tigers return to the track this Saturday when they close out their 2006 home schedule with the LSU Alumni Gold at Bernie Moore Track Stadium.
TRACKWIRE 25
Men
1. Florida State, 60; 2. LSU, 48; t3. Arkansas, 47; t3. UTEP, 47; 5. Texas, 37; 6. Arizona, 33; 7. Oregon, 28; 8. Tennessee, 27; 9. Florida, 24; 10. Virginia Tech, 23; 11. BYU, 22; 12. Texas Tech, 21; t13. Nebraska, 19; t13. North Carolina, 19; 15. TCU, 17; 16. Texas A&M, 16; 17. Northeastern, 15; 18. Oral Roberts, 14; t19. USC, 13; t19. Wisconsin, 13; t19. Kansas, 13; t22. Boise State, 12; t22. Baylor, 12; t22. South Carolina, 12; t25. Kansas State, 10; t25. George Mason, 10; t25. Jackson State, 10; t25. Ohio State, 10.
Women
1. Texas, 61; 2. Miami, 50; 3. USC, 45; t4. Georgia, 44; t4. Nebraska, 44; 6. Arizona State, 32; t7. LSU, 31; t7. North Carolina, 31; 9. Auburn, 26; t10. UCLA, 23; t10. South Carolina, 23; 12. Stanford, 22; 13. Oregon, 21; 14. Florida State, 18; 15. Tennessee, 17; 16. Michigan, 16; 17. Texas A&M, 15; 18. Providence, 12; t19. Washington State, 11; t19. Maryland, 11; t21. Iowa, 10; t21. BYU, 10; t21. Notre Dame, 10; 24. Alabama, 9; t25. Air Force, 8; t25. Minnesota, 8; t25. Columbia, 8; t25. Cal Poly, 8; t25. Tenn-Chattanooga, 8; t25. Rutgers, 8.
COACHES’ POLL
Men
1. Florida State; 2. Arkansas; 3. LSU; 4. UTEP; 5. Texas; 6. Arizona; 7. Oregon; 8. Tennessee; 9. Florida; 10. BYU; 11. Virginia Tech; 12. Texas Tech; 13. North Carolina; 14. Southern California; 15. Nebraska; 16. Baylor; 17. Texas A&M; 18. Wisconsin; 19. Kansas; 20. Oral Roberts.
Women
1. Texas; 2. Southern California; 3. Nebraska; 4. Miami (FL); 5. Arizona State ; 6. Georgia; 7. LSU; 8. UCLA ; 9. Stanford; 10. North Carolina; 11. Auburn; 12. South Carolina; 13. Oregon; 14. Tennessee; 15. Michigan; 16. Florida State; 17. Texas A&M; 18. Alabama; 19. Providence; 20. Maryland.