BATON ROUGE – The LSU Tiger Relays mark the true outdoor opener each season for members of the LSU track and field program, and that is certainly true this weekend as many of LSU’s athletes will make their 2011 outdoor debut at the Bernie Moore Track Stadium on Friday and Saturday.
Fans can enjoy an exciting weekend of world-class competition beginning at 3 p.m. CDT on Friday and at 12:55 p.m. on Saturday afternoon following a brief opening ceremony.
After wrapping up the indoor season with a third-place finish by the Lady Tigers and a first-place finish by the Tigers at the NCAA Indoor Championships two weeks ago, LSU now turns its attention to the outdoor season as the teams begin their preparation for the 2011 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships scheduled to run June 8-11 at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa.
The LSU Tiger Relays is especially important as it provides the Tigers and Lady Tigers the opportunity to prepare for the events they will see in the coming weeks at the Texas Relays and Penn Relays.
“Our athletes really look forward to the last weekend in March each season as they get a chance to line up and compete outdoors for the first time at the LSU Tiger Relays,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “I expect that everyone who is ready to go will compete this weekend. This is just a great way for us to open up the outdoor season in an event that is really going to help us moving forward.
“The LSU Tiger Relays helps prepare our athletes for what they will see later in the season when we go to the Texas Relays and Penn Relays. It’s a lot of fun for our athletes to run these different kinds of relays as they also have a great opportunity to compete against one another this weekend.”
The LSU Tiger Relays has also established a strong reputation for high school competition in recent years as more than 850 athletes representing 35 high schools from five different states are set to compete this weekend, including Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas.
In addition, the meet will also feature a series of age group races in the 100-meter dash on Saturday which includes tiny tots, sub-bantam, bantam, midget, youth and master’s levels.
They will have the opportunity to compete at a new-look Bernie Moore Track Stadium during the meet as the facility has received the finishing touches this week to a near $5 million renovation project.
The stadium has received an extensive renovation over the past nine months, which includes a resurfacing of the track, restructuring of the infield and redesign of the throws field. The track has been resurfaced with Mondo FTX, which is the same surface used during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. The 400-meter oval and infield sprint straightaway features nine lanes measuring 48 inches in width.
The stadium’s new infield includes two dual directional horizontal jumps runways, four dual directional pole vault runways, two shot put arenas with a total of six throws circles and one multi-purpose high jump area capable of hosting three simultaneous high jump competitions.
In addition, the newly-sodded throws field is located at the South end of the Bernie Moore Track Stadium with two intersecting javelin runways and two hammer and discus cages.
“We are fortunate to have a tremendous facility in which to train and compete,” Shaver said. “We’ve been able to train on the new surface for the past few weeks and now we’re excited about the opportunity to get out and compete for the first time. We expect to see some great performances this weekend. We hope that this will be the start of a memorable outdoor season for both our teams.”
Despite kicking off its outdoor season last weekend, the Tigers and Lady Tigers elected not to run both of their vaunted 4×100-meter relay teams at the Louisiana Classics in Lafayette.
The Lady Tigers were the NCAA runners-up in the 4×100-meter relay a year ago and are expected to race with the group of freshman Toshika Sylvester, junior Semoy Hackett, sophomore Kimberlyn Duncan and senior Kenyanna Wilson in their 2011 outdoor debut in Friday’s preliminary round.
The Tigers have also been among the nation’s leading performers in the relay at the NCAA Outdoor meet in recent years, following their national title in 2008 and national runner-up finish in 2009 with their third place finish at the NCAA Championships in 2010. They are expected to line up Friday with junior Barrett Nugent, junior Horatio Williams, junior Keyth Talley and senior Gabriel Mvumvure.
In addition to running the 4×100-meter relays, the Tigers and Lady Tigers will also run the 4×200, 4×400, 4×800, sprint medley and distance medley relays as they look toward the Texas Relays in two weeks.
Friday’s action will also feature the likes of LSU senior and Bowerman Award candidate Walter Henning, who is set to open defense of his NCAA championship in the hammer throw at the LSU Tiger Relays.
Henning wrapped up a perfect indoor season two weeks ago by defending his NCAA crown in the weight throw at the NCAA Indoor Championships. That victory extended his winning streak against collegiate competition to 17-straight meets dating back to the start of the 2010 indoor season. He enters the weekend with a six-meet winning streak in the hammer throw after capturing 11-straight wins in the weight throw.
Henning became the first LSU Tiger to be crowned the NCAA Outdoor hammer throw champion with his win at the national meet a season ago, capturing the crown on his final attempt with a series-best throw of 238 feet, 10 inches. He also set his personal best of 239-5 during the 2010 campaign.
After wrapping up the LSU Tiger Relays on Saturday, the Tigers and Lady Tigers will host a scored meet next weekend with the LSU Invitational being held at the Bernie Moore Track Stadium on April 2.