BATON ROUGE – The No. 2-ranked LSU men’s and women’s track and field teams will compete this weekend at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Ark., with one goal in mind of sweeping a pair of team titles as they kick off the postseason at the 2011 SEC Indoor Track & Field Championships.
This marks the third time in five weeks that LSU will compete at the Randal Tyson Track Center after the teams took part in the Razorback Invitational on Jan. 28-29 and Tyson Invitational on Feb. 11-12.
While this year’s championship actions begins Friday with the men’s heptathlon and women’s pentathlon, the Tigers and Lady Tigers will not compete for the first time this weekend until Saturday with the field events set to begin at 10 a.m. CT followed by the first preliminary events on the track at 1:30 p.m.
Sunday’s action continues in the field at 10 a.m. with the championship finals on the track scheduled for a 12:35 p.m. start at the Randal Tyson Track Center. This year’s SEC Indoor team champions will be crowned Sunday during a special awards ceremony scheduled for 4:15 p.m.
Fans have the opportunity to see the Tigers and Lady Tigers in action as the meet is slated for a tape-delay nationwide broadcast on ESPNU on Thursday, March 10, beginning at 8 p.m. CT.
The University of Arkansas will provide live streaming video throughout the championship on the official athletics website at www.ArkansasRazorbacks.com. LSU fans also have the opportunity to receive live up-to-the-minute event and scoring updates throughout the meet by becoming a fan of LSU Track & Field on Facebook and by following @LSUTrackField on Twitter.
“We are all very excited that championship season is finally here. This is the time of year that our athletes and coaches have been working toward all season,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “We are excited about the opportunity to once again compete for a championship. Winning these meets is exactly what our tradition has been built upon and is what will always be remembered for years to come.”
Both the Tigers and Lady Tigers are looking to compete for the team titles this weekend after picking up a pair of third-place finishes in the team standings at the SEC Indoor Championships a year ago.
In fact, the Tigers hope to end a 21-year drought with their first SEC team championship since 1990 when they last swept SEC Indoor and SEC Outdoor titles. The Tigers have won four SEC Indoor team titles all-time with wins in 1957, 1963 and 1989 before their taking their last team title in 1990.
The Lady Tigers are looking to capture their first team title at the SEC Indoor Championships since 2008 when they took home their league-leading 11th victory all-time at the SEC Indoor Championships. In fact, the Lady Tigers have won nearly twice as many team championships than any other program at the indoor conference meet as the Florida Gators follow with six team championships all-time.
The Arkansas men and Florida women are the defending team champions after taking the titles a year ago at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville. The Razorbacks scored 123 points to win the men’s crown over Florida (119) and LSU (108.5), while the Gators scored 110 points to win the women’s crown over Arkansas (82) and LSU (79.5) during the 2010 season.
LSU could make history with a sweep of team championships at the SEC Indoor meet this weekend while marking the program’s first sweep of men’s and women’s titles since the 1989 season.
“We expect that these SEC Championships will provide another exciting environment for our athletes and teams,” Shaver said. “We know that it’s going to be a tight battle on both sides and we’ll need to compete all the way through the final events on Sunday before a team champion is crowned.”
Three LSU athletes return to Fayetteville this weekend to defend SEC Indoor event titles that were won in 2010, including senior Brittani Carter in the women’s weight throw, senior Walter Henning in the men’s 35-pound weight throw and junior Barrett Nugent in the men’s 60-meter hurdles.
Henning was the star of the meet for the Tigers a season ago as he captured his second-straight conference crown in the 35-pound weight throw with a new SEC Indoor Championships meet record and personal best of 78 feet, 1 inch. The Bowerman Award candidate is the championship favorite again this week with the No. 1-ranked performance in the NCAA this season at 76-6 ¼.
Both Carter and Nugent won their first career SEC titles with wins at the indoor conference meet a season ago as Carter cleared 5-11 ¼ to win the high jump and Nugent clocked 7.65 seconds to win the hurdles.
Carter is again the favorite to defend her SEC Indoor crown as she has already cleared a new lifetime best of 6-1 ¼ to rank No. 1 in the SEC and in a tie for No. 3 in the NCAA in 2011. Likewise, Nugent opens up the meet as the SEC’s No. 1-ranked performer in the 60-meter hurdles with a seasonal best of 7.73.
Other LSU athletes who are sure to contend for SEC event championships during the competition are four individuals and one relay team that also rank No. 1 on the SEC’s indoor performance list for 2011.
Senior Zedric Thomas owns the nation’s No. 2-ranked mark in the men’s long jump with a lifetime record of 26-6 ¼, while junior Semoy Hackett has run 22.98 in the 200-meter dash, freshman Jasmin Stowers has run 8.13 in the 60-meter hurdles and freshman Jen Clayton has jumped 20-4 ½ in the long jump for an impressive No. 1 ranking on the SEC performance list in their respective events this season.
In addition, the Tigers own the league’s top-ranked 4×400-meter relay team as junior Keyth Talley, junior Horatio Williams, junior Riker Hylton and sophomore Caleb Williams have combined to run the fastest time in the SEC and No. 3-ranked time in the NCAA this season at 3 minutes, 6.56 seconds.
After competing this weekend at the SEC Indoor Championships, LSU athletes will have one final chance to qualify for the national meet on March 4 at the LSU NCAA Indoor Qualifier before heading to the Gilliam Indoor Track Center in College Station, Texas, for the second time for the 2011 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships scheduled to run March 11-12.
The Tigers and Lady Tigers last competed at the Gilliam Indoor Track Center on Jan. 22 with the LSU vs. Texas A&M Dual Meet in what proved to be a thrilling start to the 2011 indoor season.