BATON ROUGE – With members of the LSU track and field teams hard at work in fall training preparing for the start of the 2011 season in January, the Tigers and Lady Tigers have welcomed a strong recruiting class to campus as they look to join the national championship chase once again in the spring.
And after announcing the addition of a combined 12 recruits for the men’s and women’s teams during the 2010 spring signing period, head coach Dennis Shaver added four more signees through the summer in an attempt to bolster an already deep and talent-rich sprint group for the coming season.
Junior transfer Semoy Hackett headlines the group as she comes to LSU as one of the premier sprinters in the history of NCAA Division II while competing at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Mo.
The Tigers have added a standout transfer of their own as junior Keyth Talley joins the team following an outstanding two-year career leading the University of North Texas in the Sun Belt Conference.
LSU has also welcomed a pair of true freshman sprinters to campus for the fall semester as Geno Jones of Bishop Michael Eldon School in Freeport, Bahamas, signed with the men’s team and Toshika Sylvester of Phoenix High School in Braithwaite, La., signed with the women’s team during the summer.
Jones and Talley join a star-studded 2010 recruiting class for the Tigers that includes the likes of sprinters Riker Hylton (Linstead, Jamaica) and Horatio Williams (Starkville, Miss.), middle distance standout Keith Griffith (Burlington, N.J.) and jumper Kyron Blaise (Toco, Trinidad & Tobago).
Hackett and Sylvester add to an outstanding Class of 2010 for the Lady Tigers that also includes sprinters Rebecca Alexander (Baton Rouge, La.) and Jonique Day (St. Mary, Jamaica), hurdler Jasmin Stowers (Pendleton, S.C.), jumpers Jen Clayton (Suffern, N.Y.) and Lynnika Pitts (Prairieville, La.), and throwers Jenna Baker (Covington, La.), Karen Henning (Kings Park, N.Y.) and Annie Simoneaux (Rayne, La.).
2010 LSU Track & Field Signing Class
| Women | ||||
| Rebecca Alexander |
Sprints |
5-6 |
Baton Rouge, La. (Belaire HS/Southwest Mississippi CC) | |
| Jenna Baker |
Javelin |
5-7 |
Covington, La. (Mandeville HS) | |
| Jen Clayton |
Jumps |
5-7 |
Suffern, N.Y. (Suffern HS) | |
| Jonique Day |
Sprints |
5-9 |
St. Mary, Jamaica (St. Jago HS/Essex CC) | |
| Semoy Hackett |
Sprints |
5-6 |
Scarborough, Trinidad & Tobago (Bishop’s HS/Lincoln University) | |
| Karen Henning |
Throws |
5-5 |
Kings Park, N.Y. (St. Anthony’s HS) | |
| Lynnika Pitts |
Jumps |
5-8 |
Prairieville, La. (East Ascension HS) | |
| Annie Simoneaux |
Javelin |
5-7 |
Rayne, La. (Rayne HS) | |
| Jasmin Stowers |
Hurdles |
5-9 |
Pendleton, S.C. (Pendleton HS) | |
| Toshika Sylvester |
Sprints |
5-9 |
Braithwaite, La. (Phoenix HS) | |
| Men | ||||
| Kyron Blaise |
Jumps |
5-11 |
Toco, Trinidad & Tobago (Toco Composite School/South Plains JC) | |
| Keith Griffith |
Middle Distance |
6-1 |
Burlington, N.J. (Florence Township Memorial HS) | |
| Riker Hylton |
Sprints |
5-11 |
Linstead, Jamaica (St. Jago HS/Essex CC) | |
| Geno Jones |
Sprints |
5-8 |
Freeport, Bahamas (Bishop Michael Eldon School) | |
| Keyth Talley |
Sprints |
6-0 |
Round Rock, Texas (Manor HS/North Texas) | |
| Horatio Williams |
Sprints |
6-2 |
Starkville, Miss. (Oxford HS/Hinds CC) | |
Each of LSU’s 16 signees is now on campus and preparing for the 2011 indoor season, which kicks off on Jan. 15 as the Tigers and Lady Tigers play host to the Purple Tiger Invitational.
“We’re excited about the group that is now on campus and training with us as we prepare for the opening of the indoor season just a few months away,” Shaver said. “With our last round of signees in the summer we really added to the overall talent and depth of our men’s and women’s sprint groups.”
Hackett is the top female sprinter to join the NCAA Division I ranks this season following a brilliant two-year career at Lincoln University, where she captured a total of 10 NCAA Division II titles in five events. She captured back-to-back national crowns in the 100 meters, indoor 200 meters, outdoor 200 meters and 4×100-meter relay in 2009 and 2010, while also winning national titles in the outdoor 4×400-meter relays in 2009 and indoor 60-meter dash in 2010 as the most dominant sprinter in NCAA Division II.
Hackett became the NCAA Division II national record holder in the outdoor 200-meter dash with her title clinching time of 22.75 seconds at the national meet in 2010. She also set personal records of 11.18 in the 100-meter final in 2009 and 7.24 in the 60-meter final in 2010 at the NCAA Division II Championships.
With her record-setting performance during her sophomore season in 2010, Hackett was selected among a total of 10 semifinalists for The Bowerman Award, and the only selection from NCAA Division II.
A native of Scarborough, Trinidad & Tobago, Hackett represented her country in both the 100-meter dash and 4×100-meter relay at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, where she advanced to the quarterfinal of the 100 meters. She is also a veteran of the 2009 IAAF World Championships in Athletics.
While Hackett joins the Lady Tigers as one of the elite sprint prospects in the world for the Class of 2010, Sylvester enters the program as the top sprint recruit in the state of Louisiana for this recruiting season.
Sylvester wrapped up her prep career at Phoenix High School in Plaquemine as a seven-time Class C state champion, including four individual state championships as a senior in 2010. She was named the Most Outstanding Performer of the LHSAA Class C Outdoor State Championships on the strength of winning a gold medal in the 100 meters (11.76w), 200 meters (24.16w), long jump (19-2) and 4×100-meter relay.
Sylvester set wind-legal PRs of 11.85 in the 100-meter dash and 24.33 in the 200-meter dash while taking part in each event at the 2010 National Junior Olympics in Sacramento, Calif.
“Semoy is someone who we have watched for a number of years now, and is someone who comes here in this class with a lot of experience competing at a very high level,” Shaver said. “She’ll help us replace, and maybe even add to, the production we lost from last year with Samantha Henry graduating.
“And we’re also excited about Toshika Sylvester joining our women’s sprint group. She is an unknown to many people nationally, coming from a small Class C school here in Louisiana, but has loads of untapped potential and the competitive mindset and drive needed to reach it here at LSU.”
Talley proved to be a rising sprint star during his two-year career at North Texas in 2009 and 2010, where he was a two-time Sun Belt Conference champion and six-time All-SBC performer for the Mean Green. He was also a two-time NCAA Championships qualifier while representing the North Texas program.
Following a 2009 freshman season in which he was honored as the SBC Indoor and Outdoor Freshman of the Year, Talley captured two SBC Indoor individual titles in the 55 meters (6.20) and 200 meters (20.98) before advancing to the semifinal rounds of the 60-meter dash at the 2010 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships. His winning times at the SBC Indoor Championships are meet records.
Talley boasts personal bests of 6.69 in the 60 meters, 10.35 in the 100 meters and 20.78 in the 200 meters, which he set in the 200-meter semifinal at the 2009 Pan American Junior Championships.
Talley comes from a track and field pedigree as he is the son of Alabama legend Keith Talley, a two-time NCAA champion hurdler and seven-time SEC champion in the sprint hurdles and long jump throughout his collegiate career in 1986-87. The elder Talley still owns the Alabama school record in the 110 hurdles.
Jones joins the LSU program as one of the top sprint prospects in the Caribbean as he is the reigning 2010 Carifta Games gold medalist in both the 100-meter dash (10.44) and 4×100-meter relay (40.99) in the Under-20 division. Jones also represented the Bahamas at the 2010 IAAF World Junior Championships in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada, with a 100-meter personal best of 10.42.
Jones was also a standout in the classroom at Bishop Michael Eldon School in Freeport, Bahamas with an All-Bahamian Scholar Athlete award as presented by the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations.
“Like Semoy Hackett and Toshika Sylvester on the women’s side, Keyth Talley and Geno Jones will help give our men’s sprint group much needed depth that we really didn’t have a year ago,” Shaver said. “They are hard at work in training, and really making some great strides in our program here at LSU.”