BATON ROUGE — With the 2009 collegiate season now in the rearview mirror, LSU track and field athletes past and present will now turn their attention to qualifying for the 2009 IAAF World Championships in Athletics to be held in Berlin, Germany, from Aug. 15-23.
It all starts this weekend in the country of Trinidad and Tobago as LSU greats Richard Thompson and Kelly Baptiste join Lady Tiger senior Monique Cabral in competing at the Sagicor National Open Track and Field Championships at Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain.
The meet is scheduled to get underway Friday and will run through Sunday as the LSU trio hopes to earn the right to represent Trinidad and Tobago at the IAAF World Championships.
Thompson, who was a two-time silver medalist in the 100-meter dash and 4×100-meter relay last summer at the Olympic Games in Beijing, will race against the likes of fellow Olympians Marc Burns, Darrel Brown, Emmanuel Callender and Keston Bledman for the 100-meter title, while he might also run the 200-meter dash during the championships.
Likewise, Baptiste and Cabral will also run the 100-meter dash at the Sagicor Championships. In fact, Baptiste is a three-time champion of the event after taking the title in 2005, 2006 and 2008.