BATON ROUGE – Saturday’s meet at the Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium in College Station, Texas, will feature a bout between NCAA heavyweights as national championship favorites LSU and Texas A&M do battle in a much anticipated early season dual meet that is set to begin at 3:15 p.m. CT.
The introduction of coaches is slated for 3:15 p.m. followed by the playing of the national anthem at 3:20 p.m. The meet is scheduled to begin with the first events at 3:30 p.m.
Saturday’s LSU vs. Texas A&M dual meet features two of the top three teams in the country indoors this season, according to the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. The No. 2-ranked Tigers will battle the No. 3-ranked Aggie men, while the No. 3-ranked Lady Tigers will square off against the No. 2-ranked Aggie women in the first dual meet between the two programs.
Fans have the opportunity to watch the teams in action as Texas A&M will provide a live web stream this weekend, courtesy of its official athletics website at www.aggieathletics.com.
Live updates throughout the meet will also be available on the official Facebook and Twitter pages for the LSU Track & Field program. To receive these live updates, fans are invited to become a fan of LSU Track & Field on Facebook and become a follower of @LSUTrackField on Twitter.
Scoring for the meet will follow a 5-3-2-1 format for individual events and a 5-3 format for all relays. Just two athletes from each team will be allowed to score points in each individual event.
“This is a meet that is going to be a great competition and a lot of fun for both teams. It’s actually the first time that our athletes will have the opportunity to compete in a dual meet format,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “What’s fun about a dual meet like this are the many great head-to-head matchups we will see in each event area, which will include a number of matchups we’ll see at the NCAA Championships.”
Saturday’s meet will also be the first time this season that the Tigers and Lady Tigers have an opportunity to compete on a banked track that will be featured during the championship season.
Texas A&M’s Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium will serve as the championship venue for this year’s NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships that is scheduled to run March 11-12.
“What might be most important for our teams this weekend is having the chance to run on a banked track for the first time this season, which is also the same track that will host the NCAA meet,” Shaver said. “It is important for our teams to go on the road during the regular season and run on the tracks that’ll prepare us to compete against the best teams in the country in the championship meets.”
Among the premier head-to-head matchups that are sure to provide the fireworks during Saturday’s action are NCAA championship and All-America contenders in the men’s and women’s 60-meter dash, 200-meter dash and 60-meter hurdles, as well as the men’s 400-meter dash.
The Tigers feature the No. 1-ranked performer in the NCAA in the men’s 60-meter dash as junior Horatio Williams clocked a new personal best of 6.61 seconds in his LSU debut a week ago.
Williams, who is also scheduled to run the 200-meter dash for the first time this season, will battle two of Texas A&M’s leading All-America contenders in each event in senior All-American Gerald Phiri and top recruit in freshman Prezel Hardy. LSU will also feature senior Gabriel Mvumvure in the 60-meter dash as he enters the meet with a personal best of 6.72 set at the Purple Tiger Invitational last weekend.
Junior college All-American Riker Hylton will make his LSU debut in the 400-meter dash on Saturday as he will team with sophomore Caleb Williams to counter the Texas A&M All-American duo of Demetrius Pinder and Bryan Miller in another exciting event on the oval.
In the hurdles, NCAA Indoor All-American and NCAA Outdoor runner-up Barrett Nugent will battle the nation’s top hurdles recruit from the 2009 season in sophomore Wayne Davis II.
In her Lady Tiger debut at the Purple Tiger Invitational last weekend, junior Semoy Hackett emerged as a true NCAA title contender in the 60-meter dash while running an impressive early season time of 7.28.
Hackett, the 2010 NCAA Division II 60-meter champion, enters Saturday’s dual meet ranked No. 3 in the country in the event, while she is also scheduled to run the 200-meter dash for the first time as a Lady Tiger. Hackett will face the likes of Texas A&M All-Americans Gaby Mayo and Jeneba Tarmoh in the 60 meters and Tarmoh and Jessica Beard in the 200 meters on Saturday afternoon.
The Lady Tigers will also feature the likes of All-Americans Takeia Pinckney and Kenyanna Wilson with the 60-meter dash and Kimberlyn Duncan and Cassandra Tate with the 200-meter dash.
The women’s 60-meter hurdles is also sure to be a hotly contested event as the Lady Tigers feature senior Tenaya Jones and freshman Jasmin Stowers against the Texas A&M duo of Mayo and Natasha Ruddock.
Senior Walter Henning, the defending NCAA Indoor weight throw champion and 2011 Bowerman Award candidate, will lead a host of LSU athletes scheduled to make their season debut at Texas A&M this week as he will join fellow All-American Michael Lauro in the men’s 35-pound weight throw competition.
With the nation’s No. 1-ranked and No. 2-ranked performances in the long jump already under their belts, senior Zedric Thomas and sophomore Damar Forbes is slated to make their 2011 season debut in the triple jump on Saturday. Thomas won the long jump crown at the Purple Tiger Invitational with a new PR and national-leading jump of 26 feet, 3 ¾ inches, while Forbes followed with a PR of his own at 26-3.
Also scheduled to make his LSU debut in the triple jump is former junior college All-America star Kyron Blaise, who boasts a lifetime personal best of 53-5 in the event. Blaise opened the season a week ago with a solid performance in the long jump during which he posted a mark of 24-11 ¾.