BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s and women’s track and field teams have continued their success from the indoor season as they are ranked among the Top 10 teams in the nation in the first Trackwire 25 power ranking of the outdoor season released Tuesday.
The Lady Tigers, who finished as the national runner-up at the NCAA Indoor Championships on March 10, are ranked second in the country with 39 points, while the Tigers are seventh in the nation with 27 points in the initial poll of the outdoor campaign.
Arizona State ? the reigning women’s indoor national champion ? opens the outdoor season as the favorite to sweep national titles as they are projected to score 58 points at the national meet, while South Carolina (36), Michigan (31) and Texas A&M (30) round out the nation’s top five.
Florida State is the prohibitive favorite to defend its outdoor title from a year ago as it sits atop the men’s rankings with a total of 62 points, followed by USC in second with 40, Auburn in third with 34, Arizona in fourth with 33 and reigning indoor national champion Wisconsin in fifth with a total of 32 points.
LSU is also well-represented in the first Trackwire Dandy Dozen of the season as a total of 18 athletes and four relay teams are ranked among the nation’s Top 12 performers in their respective specialty events.
The Lady Tigers are led in multiple events by a pair of indoor All-Americans as junior Kelly Baptiste is the nation’s third-ranked athlete in both the 100 and 200-meter dashes, while sophomore hurdles standout Nickiesha Wilson is ranked third in the 400-meter hurdles and eighth in the 100 hurdles.
Junior Brooklynn Morris joins Baptiste in the 200 meters as she is ranked 10th in the event. Wilson is also joined by a pair of Lady Tigers in the 100-meter hurdles as junior Jessica Ohanaja enters the poll at No. 5 in the event followed by fellow junior Angel Boyd at No. 7.
The Lady Tigers also have a pair of athletes ranked in the Top 12 of the 400 meters as senior Cynetheia Rooks and junior Deonna Lawrence are ranked No. 11 and No. 12, respectively, in the open quarter, while freshman LaTavia Thomas leads the squad in the middle distances as she is the nation’s 10th-ranked athlete in the 800-meter run.
Senior Alleyne Lett is the Tigers’ highest ranked individual performer as the indoor national runner-up in the 60-meter hurdles is the nation’s third-ranked athlete in the 110 hurdles, while fellow senior Isa Phillips leads the Tigers’ effort in the 400-meter hurdles as he opens the season ranked fifth in his specialty event.
Junior sprint standout Richard Thompson is currently among the national favorites as he is the seventh-ranked performer in the 100-meter dash, and freshman middle distance ace Jamaal James is ranked sixth in the 800 meters after winning the indoor SEC title in the event earlier this year.
The squads have also combined for a total of six athletes in the Dandy Dozen in the field events with junior Andrea Linton (triple jump) and junior Kathy Coleman (long jump) opening the outdoor season ranked ninth and 12th in their respective specialty events.
On the men’s side, freshman indoor All-American Will Coppage leads the way as he is ranked fifth in the long jump followed by teammate Jeremy Hicks in the event at No. 11. The Tigers also feature a pair of standout javelin throwers with sophomore Chad Radgowski and freshman Preston Chatham coming in sixth and eighth in the event, respectively.
The squads will also feature four of the nation’s premier relay teams as the women are among the national favorites to win national titles in the 4×100 and 4×400-meter relays as they open the season ranked second and third, respectively. The men begin the outdoor season with the nation’s fifth-ranked 1,600-meter relay team, while they are also ranked 10th in the 4×100.
The Tigers and Lady Tigers will hit the road for the first time during the outdoor season next weekend as they travel to Austin, Texas, to compete in the prestigious Texas Relays beginning Thursday at the Mike A. Myers Stadium. This year’s event is the 80th edition of one of the nation’s premier collegiate track meets.
Trackwire 25
WOMEN
1. Arizona State, 58
2. LSU, 39
3. South Carolina, 36
4. Michigan, 31
5. Texas A&M, 30
t6. USC, 29
t6. Georgia, 29
8. Auburn, 28
9. UCLA, 27
10. Tennessee, 25
11. Oregon, 23
12. Texas, 22
13. California, 21
t14. BYU, 20
t14. Texas Tech, 20
t16. Stanford, 18
t16. Nebraska, 18
t18. Minnesota, 16
t18. Illinois, 16
20. Washington State, 14
t21. Georgia Tech, 12
t21. Colorado, 12
t21. Florida, 12
t24. Washington, 11
t24. Duke, 11
t24. Miami, 11
MEN
1. Florida State, 62
2. USC, 40
3. Auburn, 34
4. Arizona, 33
5. Wisconsin, 32
6. Tennessee, 29
7. LSU, 27
8. Oregon, 26
t9. Arizona State, 24
t9. North Carolina, 24
11. Arkansas, 23
12. Washington, 21
13. Louisville, 20
t14. Clemson, 19
t14. Baylor, 19
t14. Texas, 19
t17. Florida, 16
t17. UCLA, 16
t17. McNeese State, 16
t17. UTEP, 16
t17. Nebraska, 16
t22. Washington State, 15
t22. Texas Tech, 15
t22. Ole Miss, 15
25. Georgia, 13