BATON ROUGE — Five indoor All-Americans highlight LSU’s list of 20 athletes and two relay teams that have been invited to compete at this year’s NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships beginning Friday at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Ark.
The Lady Tigers will bring one of the nation’s largest contingents to the national meet as 13 athletes and the nation’s top-ranked women’s 4×400-meter relay squad are slated to compete, while the Tigers will send seven athletes and a 4×400 relay team of their own to the meet.
The women’s team is well-represented in the sprints as the Lady Tigers are the only squad to place at least three athletes in the field in each of the three events, while they will also have three athletes competing in the hurdles and a pair running the middle distances this weekend.
Junior Kelly Baptiste, junior Sherry Fletcher and freshman Samantha Henry will double in both the 60 and 200 meters, while junior Brooklynn Morris will compete in only the 200 meters at the national meet. Juniors Deonna Lawrence and Cynetheia Rooks, and sophomore Nickiesha Wilson are looking to earn All-America honors in the 400 meters as South Carolina is the only other team with at least two athletes in the event.
Both Lawrence and Morris are each making their third career trip to the indoor championship meet as they earned All-America honors in their specialty last season. Baptiste is also making her third career NCAA indoor appearance as she was the only Lady Tiger to claim two individual All-America honors a season ago, winning awards in both the 60 and 200 meters.
The Lady Tigers also boast one of the nation’s deepest squads in both the 60-meter hurdles and 800 meters as they have a combined five athletes competing between the two events. Senior Angel Boyd, junior Jessica Ohanaja and Wilson will lead the Lady Tigers’ effort in the hurdles, while senior Meisue Francis and freshman LaTavia Thomas enter the meet among the favorites in the half mile.
Ohanaja won her first Southeastern Conference title in the hurdles at the conference meet two weeks ago by clocking a new personal best and the fastest time in the nation at 8.03 seconds in the event finals. Thomas also won an SEC title of her own in the 800 meters after clocking one of the nation’s Top 10 times in the event at 2 minutes, 5.76 seconds.
The women’s squad will be led in the field events by a pair of jumps standouts as junior Kathy Coleman is set to compete in the long jump, while sophomore Andrea Linton is the Lady Tigers’ lone representative in the triple jump. Both Coleman and Linton are making their first career appearances at the national meet as Linton earned outdoor All-America honors a season ago.
On the men’s side, junior Reggie Dardar is the lone Tiger to return with any national experience as he ran the second leg on the 4×400-meter relay team that won a national title at the meet in 2006. Dardar is set to run the open quarter at the national meet for the first time in his LSU career after qualifying with the nation’s fourth-fastest time at 46.11 to win the SEC title two weeks ago.
Seniors Alleyne Lett (60 hurdles) and Siraj Williams (400), junior Richard Thompson (60), sophomore Rueben Twijukye (800), and freshmen Will Coppage (long jump) and Jamaal James (800) are each making their first career NCAA appearance at the Randal Tyson Track Center. James is the reigning SEC champion in the half mile after clocking a new personal best time of 1:49.08 at the conference meet on Feb. 25.
Both the men’s and women’s relay squads look to defend their titles from a year ago as they enter the championship meet among the favorites in 2007. The Lady Tigers’ foursome of Morris, Rooks, Thomas and Lawrence clocked the nation’s fastest time this season at 3:29.86 to win the SEC title, while the men’s team of freshman Armanti Hayes, senior Isa Phillips, senior Marvin Stevenson and Dardar has the nation’s third-fastest time at 3:06.09.
The first day of competition is scheduled to begin Friday with the men’s heptathlon at 9 a.m. CST followed by the day’s first field events at noon and running events beginning at 4:30 p.m. Saturday’s action features the conclusion of the heptathlon at 11 a.m., while the field events are slated to begin at 2 p.m. followed by the final running events at 6:15 p.m.
LSU’S 2007 NCAA INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS COMPETITORS
MEN
Athlete, Event, Top Time/Mark
Will Coppage, Long Jump, 25-2 ?
Reggie Dardar, 400 meters, 46.11
Jamaal James, 800 meters, 1:49.08
Alleyne Lett, 60 hurdles, 7.79
Richard Thompson, 60 meters, 6.64
Rueben Twijukye, 800 meters, 1:48.70
Siraj Williams, 400 meters, 46.61
Hayes, Phillips, Stevenson, Dardar, 4×400, 3:06.09
WOMEN
Athlete, Event, Top Time/Mark
Kelly Baptiste, 60 meters/200 meters, 7.20/23.14
Angel Boyd, 60 hurdles, 8.24
Kathy Coleman, Long Jump, 20-8 ?
Samantha Henry, 60 meters/200 meters, 7.29/23.64
Sherry Fletcher, 60 meters/200 meters, 7.31/23.37
Meisue Francis, 800 meters, 2:06.02
Deonna Lawrence, 400 meters, 52.94
Andrea Linton, Triple Jump, 43-4 ?
Brooklynn Morris, 200 meters, 23.26
Jessica Ohanaja, 60 hurdles, 8.03
Cynetheia Rooks, 400 meters, 53.08
LaTavia Thomas, 800 meters, 2:05.76
Nickiesha Wilson, 60 hurdles/400 meters, 7.16/52.82
Morris, Rooks, Thomas, Lawrence, 4×400, 3:29.86