BATON ROUGE — The LSU track and field teams are set to wrap up their preparation for next week’s SEC Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., as they play host to the LSU Twilight Invitational at the Carl Maddox Fieldhouse on Friday night.
The competition is set to get underway at 3 p.m. with the field events followed by the first events on the track at 6 p.m. Live results from the meet will be provided by www.LSUsports.net.
“We’re looking to rest many of our athletes this weekend as we gear up for the start of the championship season, and we want them to be ready to go for the SEC Indoors next weekend,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “But this meet will give some of our other athletes a great opportunity to step up and compete for us.”
Highlighting the action at the LSU Twilight on Friday will be LSU’s jumps group as several athletes are looking to either improve their NCAA qualifying marks or qualify for the first time.
Junior Jeremy Hicks is looking to secure his spot in the NCAA Championships despite already being an NCAA provisional qualifier in the long jump with a seasonal best mark of 24 feet, 11 ? inches. Hicks did not compete at the Tyson Invitational last weekend.
In addition, sophomore All-American Will Coppage hopes to qualify for the first time in the long jump as he enters the meet with a seasonal best mark of 24-1. Coppage earned indoor All-American honors as a true freshman after finishing in fifth place in the event at the NCAA Indoor Championships a year ago with a personal best mark of 25-6 ?.
“This meet will be a great opportunity for our jumpers to improve their position heading into the postseason,” Shaver said. “It’s important that we see some improvement from them because we’re going to need those guys to contribute if we hope to be in contention at the championship meets in the coming weeks.”
Senior Ryan Fontenot is also looking to improve his NCAA provisional qualifying time in the 60-meter hurdles as he heads into the weekend with a seasonal best time of 7.81 seconds.
Other notable performers include senior Kathy Coleman (long jump), junior Rabun Fox (weight throw), junior Ricky Jean-Francois (shot put), sophomore Josh Dominguez (pole vault), freshman Brittani Carter (high jump), freshman Tenaya Jones (60 hurdles), freshman Kenyanna Wilson (60 meters) and freshman Zedric Thomas (triple jump).
The Tigers and Lady Tigers will follow their appearance in the LSU Twilight by traveling to the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Ark., for the third time this season to compete in the SEC Indoor Championships beginning Feb. 29.