BATON ROUGE — The LSU women’s track and field team followed an impressive performance in the Purple Tiger Classic this past weekend by being listed No. 3 in the country in the first Trackwire 25 power rankings of the 2007 season released Tuesday.
The Lady Tigers are among the favorites to compete for a national championship during the indoor season as they received 40 points in the organization’s initial standings. Stanford leads the way with 55 points followed by No. 2 Arizona State with 43 points, while No. 4 South Carolina (39) and No. 5 Texas (28) round out the top five.
The Lady Tigers are led by junior Kelly Baptiste as the seven-time All-American earned a No. 1 ranking in the 60 meters in the first Trackwire Dandy Dozen of the season, which is a listing of the top 12 athletes and relay squads in each individual event. Baptiste, who is also ranked No. 7 in the 200 meters, finished third in the short sprint at the NCAA meet a season ago.
LSU may have the deepest women’s hurdles group in the country as a trio of Lady Tigers find themselves ranked among the nation’s top 12 in the 60-meter hurdles, led by junior All-American Jessica Ohanaja at No. 3, sophomore Nickiesha Wilson at No. 6 and senior Angel Boyd at No. 11.
Junior All-American Brooklynn Morris joins Baptiste as the only two Lady Tigers to be ranked in the Dandy Dozen in more than one specialty event as she is rated fifth in the 200 meters and 11th in the 60 meters. Also ranked for the Lady Tigers are junior Deonna Lawrence and senior Cynetheia Rooks as the duo is currently sixth and eighth, respectively, in the 400 meters.
In addition, Lawrence, Morris, Rooks and senior Juanita Broaddus return to form the most dominant 4×400-meter relay squad in the country this season. The foursome, which is currently ranked No. 2 in the Dandy Dozen, teamed to win a national title at the NCAA meet a year ago by clocking the second-fastest time in school history at 3:29.33 in the event finals.
The men’s squad has three athletes and a relay team listed among the Dandy Dozen as junior All-American Richard Thompson is currently ranked eighth in the 60 meters, senior All-American Melville Rogers is ninth in the 400 meters and freshman middle distance sensation Jamaal James is 11th in the 800 meters.
The Tigers also boast the nation’s second-ranked 4×400-meter relay team as Rogers and junior All-American Reggie Dardar return from the squad that captured national titles at both the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships in 2006.
Trackwire’s power rankings are based on a projected point total at the NCAA Indoor Championships generated by scoring the “Dandy Dozen.” It considers injury reports and other variables supported by information gathered from coaches and NCAA qualifying competitions across the country.
The Tigers and Lady Tigers are set to travel to Albuquerque, N.M., on Friday to compete in the two-day Modrall Sperling Lobo Invitational at the Albuquerque Convention Center. The first day of competition is slated to begin Friday at 7 p.m. CST with Saturday’s action scheduled to get underway at 11 a.m.
Women’s Trackwire 25
1. Stanford, 55
2. Arizona State, 43
3. LSU, 40
4. South Carolina, 39
5. Texas, 28
6. Miami, 27
7. Michigan, 25
8. Tennessee, 23
t9. Texas A&M, 21
t9. Kansas State, 21
t11. Minnesota, 18
t11. North Carolina, 18
13. Iowa, 17
t14. Washington, 16
t14. Auburn, 16
t14. Nebraska, 16
17. Arkansas, 15
18. Washington State, 14
t19. Georgia, 13
t19. Georgia Tech, 13
t21. Oregon, 12
t21. Colorado, 12
23. Southern California, 12
24. Duke, 10
25. Texas Tech, 9