BATON ROUGE — The outdoor season gets into full swing this weekend as the LSU track and field teams return to Baton Rouge to play host to the LSU Tiger Relays on Friday and Saturday at the Bernie Moore Track Stadium.
The meet kicks off Friday with the field events at 12:30 p.m. followed by the first events on the track at 3:20 p.m. The action continues Saturday following a brief opening ceremony at 1:57 p.m.
The squads are coming off a successful opener to the outdoor season as a total of 17 athletes and three relay teams posted qualifying marks for the NCAA Mideast Regional Championships at the Willie Williams Classic in Tucson, Ariz., last weekend.
The LSU Tiger Relays will give many of LSU’s top athletes the opportunity to compete outdoors for the first time, as well as prepare the teams for what they will see at such relay carnivals as the Texas Relays (April 3-5) and the Penn Relays (April 24-26) later this season.
“I always feel like the LSU Tiger Relays is the true opener to our outdoor season,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “We always like to give our athletes a couple of weeks to recover from the indoor season after the NCAA Championships, and many will be competing outdoors for the first time this weekend. We’re looking to build on our strong performance from last weekend.
“This meet will also prepare us a little bit for what we will see at the Texas Relays and the Penn Relays. We’ll get a chance to put our top relay teams on the track for the first time this season and see if they can get the stick around the track. I look forward to seeing what they can do.”
The Tigers and Lady Tigers feature two of the nation’s premier 4×100-meter relay teams and both will be in action Saturday as they look to solidify their position among the nation’s elite early on.
The Lady Tigers qualified their sprint relay into the regional meet with their “B” team a week ago but will run their top foursome of senior Jessica Ohanaja, sophomore Samantha Henry, senior Juanita Broaddus and senior Kelly Baptiste during Saturday’s competition.
The Tigers will put their 4×100-meter relay on the track for the first time this outdoor season as sophomore Armanti Hayes, senior Richard Thompson, freshman Gabriel Mvumvure (voom-VOO-ray) and junior Trindon Holliday is the foursome that will look to qualify for the regional meet for the first time. The squad was the national runner-up a year ago.
In addition to running the 4×100 relays, the Tigers and Lady Tigers will also run the 4×200 relay, the 4×400 relay and the sprint medley relay as they prepare for the Texas Relays next weekend.
“This is what makes the outdoor season exciting,” Shaver said. “The relay events are some of the more exciting events to watch in all of track and field. We’re looking forward to our teams lining up for the first time this season and seeing if they can get the stick around the track. This will give us a good idea of what we need to improve on before going to Texas next weekend.”
A number of athletes will also kick off the season in open events as Ohanaja (100 hurdles), Kathy Coleman (long jump), Andrea Linton (long jump), Katelyn Rodrigue (pole vault) and Nickiesha Wilson (100 hurdles) look to add their names to the Lady Tigers’ growing regional roster.
Among the Tigers who are competing for the first time in their specialty include Will Coppage (long jump), Jeremy Hicks (long jump), Ricky Jean-Francois (shot put), John Kosgei (1,500 meters), Patrick Lee (400 hurdles), and Zedric Thomas (triple jump) as they look to join a list of nine athletes who have already punched their ticket to the regional meet later this spring.
“We’re rested and ready to go,” Shaver said. “For many of our athletes, it will be their first time competing this outdoor season. It’ll be fun for them to get it kicked off here at home.”
After wrapping up the LSU Tiger Relays on Saturday, the squads will make their annual trip to Austin, Texas, to compete in the prestigious 81st Texas Relays at Mike A. Myers Stadium from April 3-5. The Tigers and Lady Tigers will then play host to the Tiger Invitational on April 12.