BATON ROUGE – With the start of the 2011 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships just eight days away, LSU’s athletes who have yet to qualify for the event have one last chance to do so at one of two last chance qualifying meets to be held this weekend.
The Tigers and Lady Tigers play host to the LSU NCAA Indoor Qualifier on Friday, while LSU will send six athletes to the Iowa State NCAA Indoor Qualifier being held in Ames, Iowa, on Saturday.
LSU will have nine athletes in action at the Carl Maddox Field House on Friday who have yet to meet the NCAA automatic qualifying standard this season, but who are within striking distance of qualifying for the national meet with a top-30 national ranking in their respective events.
The Tigers will feature senior Gabriel Mvumvure in the 60-meter dash (6.68), senior Josh Dominguez in the pole vault (17-3), junior Kyron Blaise in the long jump (24-11 ¾) and junior Barrett Nugent in the 60-meter hurdles (7.73). Among those competing for the Lady Tigers include Tenaya Jones in the 60 hurdles (8.16), Kenyanna Wilson (7.29) and Kimberlyn Duncan (7.30) in the 60 meters, junior Rachel Laurent in the pole vault (13-7 ¼) and freshman Jen Clayton in the long jump (20-4 ½).
The LSU NCAA Indoor Qualifier is slated to begin at 2 p.m. CT at the Carl Maddox Field House with the meet’s first field events followed by the first events on the track at 6:30 p.m.
In addition, LSU will send six athletes to Ames, Iowa, on Saturday in an attempt to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships at the Iowa State NCAA Qualifier being held at the Lied Recreation Center.
Among the Tigers slated to compete are senior Tristan Walker in the 200 meters and juniors Riker Hylton and Robert Simmons in the 400 meters. Running for the Lady Tigers will be juniors Jonique Day and Cassandra Tate in the 400 meters and sophomore Charlene Lipsey in the 800 meters.
Hylton currently ranks No. 11 in the NCAA in the men’s 400-meter dash with a top time of 46.30 seconds set in the SEC final on Sunday. Simmons follows in the No. 21 position on the NCAA performance list with a seasonal-best time of 46.54, while Walker has clocked 21.18 in the 200-meter dash during the 2011 indoor season to rank in a tie for No. 48 on the national list entering the weekend.
Tate ranks among the top 20 women’s 400-meter runners this year with the No. 17-ranked performance in the NCAA at 53.27. Day is looking to improve upon her seasonal best of 53.72, which is currently tied for the No. 27 spot on the national indoor performance list. Lipsey, who set an indoor personal record of with the SEC final at 2:06.11, enters the weekend ranked No. 16 nationally in the 800-meter run.
The track at the Lied Recreation Center is conducive to running fast times as it includes a 300-meter track with 42-inch lanes, making it one of the largest and fastest indoor surfaces in the world.
The indoor season will come to an end next weekend as the 2011 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships are set for March 11-12 at the Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium in College Station, Texas. It will mark LSU’s return to College Station after battling Texas A&M in a dual meet back on Jan. 22.