The LSU track and field teams are gearing up for another banner year this spring and are in the midst of a strenuous fall training regimen designed to help them compete against the nation’s best. The Tigers and Lady Tigers form the premier combined program in all of collegiate track and field with an impressive 31 NCAA championships and 47 Southeastern Conference championships all-time.
First in a nine-part series updating LSU’s progress during the fall training season will focus on the sprints and hurdles group.
BATON ROUGE – LSU boasts the proudest tradition in the sprints and hurdles in all of collegiate track and field, and the Tigers and Lady Tigers are back to work this fall preparing for another banner season as they compete for the first time during the indoor season in January.
After returning to the track on Sept. 7 after the Labor Day holiday, the LSU sprinters and hurdlers ended a fifth week of training on Saturday in preparation for a 2011 season in which the group is sure to help take the program on another run toward the national championship.
Head coach Dennis Shaver and the LSU coaching staff has used the first five weeks of training to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of each athlete, while working to refine sprint mechanics and techniques.
Strength training has also played an important role in the development of LSU’s athletes since the Tigers and Lady Tigers returned to the track as they take part in Olympic weight lifting three times a week while working toward improved general strength and body building. LSU’s sprinters and hurdlers also take part in tempo workouts each week as the LSU Parade Grounds as part of their training.
“We’re off to a great start in our fall training program. Our athletes are more determined than ever to join the national championship race again this spring,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “Fitness is a must for us to have a productive training program in the fall, and our athletes did a great job in the off-season to prepare themselves for the kinds of workouts demanded of them.”
Barrett Nugent returns for his junior season following a breakout campaign in 2010 in which he emerged as one of the elite sprint hurdlers at the collegiate level with his performance.
Nugent earned All-American honors while finishing as the national runner-up in the 110-meter hurdles at the NCAA Outdoor Championships and in fourth-place nationally in the 60-meter hurdles at the NCAA Indoor Championships. He wrapped up the 2010 season by breaking Eric Reid‘s 23-year-old LSU school record in the 110 hurdles with a personal-best time of 13.49 seconds in the national final.
Sophomore Takeia Pinkney is the top individual performer returning for the Lady Tigers this season after earning All-American honors as a freshman a year ago with a fourth-place finish overall in the 100 meters and helping the Lady Tigers to a national runner-p finish in the 4×100-meter relay.
LSU also returns a host of All-Americans in the relay events that includes seniors Gabriel Mvumvure and Kenyanna Wilson, juniors Ade Alleyne-Forte and Cassandra Tate, and sophomores Kimberlyn Duncan and Caleb Williams. The relays are sure to be strengths of the team program again in 2011.
The teams will also compete with more overall talent and depth in the sprint group this season than a year ago with the addition of one of the strongest recruiting classes in the country for the Class of 2010.
Among the LSU newcomers who will be competing for All-American recognition are Rebecca Alexander (Baton Rouge), Jonique Day (St. Mary, Jamaica), Semoy Hackett (Scarborough, Trinidad & Tobago), Jasmin Stowers (Pendleton, S.C.) and Toshika Sylvester (Braithwaite, La.) for the women’s team, as well as Riker Hylton (Linstead, Jamaica), Geno Jones (Freeport, Bahamas), Keyth Talley (Austin, Texas) and Horatio Williams (Starkville, Miss.) for the men’s team.