BATON ROUGE — The LSU track and field teams have already established themselves among the nation’s elite through three weeks of the outdoor season, and each is ranked in the Top 10 of the first Top 25 released by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
The Lady Tigers come in at No. 3 in the first Top 25 ranking released this outdoor season, while the Tigers are No. 7 as they start their run to the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
LSU is fresh off an outstanding performance at the 82nd Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays in Austin last weekend in which a number of athletes finished the weekend ranked among the NCAA’s top performers in their respective events so far this season.
Senior Trindon Holliday led the way by clocking the nation’s No. 1 time in the 100-meter dash in his outdoor debut as he finished runner-up in the men’s invitational 100-meter dash with a time of 10.12 seconds. Holliday also anchored the Tigers to a third-place finish in the finals of the 4×100-meter relay with the third-fastest time in the NCAA this season at 39.10.
For his performance at the Texas Relays, Holliday was named the SEC Male Runner of the Week on Tuesday for the second time during the 2009 season.
The Tigers also saw its 4×400-meter relay team record the fifth-fastest time in the NCAA in 2009 as Jamar Howard, Armanti Hayes, Ade Alleyne-Forte and Robert Simmons finished second in the final of the Cleburne Price, Jr. 4×400-Meter Relay with a time of 3 minutes, 5.97 seconds.
Holliday was not the only LSU athlete to record an NCAA-leading performance for the weekend. Freshman Rachel Laurent won the women’s university pole vault with a school-record mark of 14 feet, 1 ? inches, while LSU’s 4×400-meter relay squad of Brittany Hall, Cassandra Tate, Kayann Thompson and LaTavia Thomas won the event title with an NCAA-leading time of 3:31.81.
Not only that, but junior Samantha Henry clocked the fifth-fastest 100-meter time in the NCAA at 11.19, while sophomore Kenyanna Wilson followed with the No. 7 time in the nation at 11.31. In addition, sophomore Tenaya Jones shattered her own personal record in the 100 hurdles with the nation’s sixth-fastest time at 13.28 in the event final at the Texas Relays.
Sophomore Brittani Carter already owned the nation’s No. 2 high jump mark at 6-0, while LSU is currently ranked No. 3 nationally in the 4×100-meter relay with a top time of 43.84 this season.
USTFCCCA Top 25
WOMEN
1. Texas A&M, 380.72
2. Oregon, 287.28
3. LSU, 232.76
4. Virginia Tech, 228.19
5. Tennessee, 189.50
6. Arizona State, 186.45
7. Penn State, 184.51
8. UCLA, 177.78
9. Southern California, 173.50
10. Baylor, 163.22
11. Michigan, 158.09
12. Florida, 149.73
13. Texas, 147.26
14. Texas Tech, 123.66
15. Minnesota, 122.85
16. Auburn, 116.88
17. Florida State, 116.53
18. Miami (Fla.), 112.95
19. South Carolina, 110.84
20. Stanford, 107.29
21. Oklahoma, 107.29
22. Arkansas, 104.04
23. Arizona, 102.06
24. Louisville, 98.57
25. North Carolina, 96.80
MEN
1. Oregon, 306.33
2. Texas A&M, 294.02
3. Arkansas, 265.30
4. Florida, 243.81
5. Florida State, 198.45
6. South Carolina, 192.09
7. LSU, 188.02
8. Texas, 169.53
9. Kentucky, 168.39
10. Baylor, 167.59
11. Tennessee, 162.38
12. Nebraska, 155.85
13. Georgia, 137.07
14. Washington, 135.62
15. UCLA, 126.32
16. Arizona State, 116.95
17. Southern California, 111.81
18. Washington State, 104.68
19. Northern Iowa, 97.74
20. Auburn, 97.08
21. Texas Tech, 96.00
22. California, 91.71
23. Minnesota, 87.45
24. BYU, 86.76
25. Missouri, 86.73