BATON ROUGE – In the wake of an impressive performance by the LSU Track & Field teams at the Tyson Invitational this past weekend, the Tigers and Lady Tigers have strengthened their position among the top five teams nationally in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Top 25.
The Lady Tigers are No. 3 and the Tigers are No. 4 nationwide in this week’s USTFCCCA Top 25 power ranking released by the organization Tuesday morning. This week’s release marks the first time that the USTFCCCA Top 25 power rankings reflect only performances obtained during the 2012 season.
LSU Track & Field featured two national-leading performances in two days of action at the Randal Tyson Track Center this past weekend as LSU junior All-American long jumper Damar Forbes and the women’s 4×400-meter relay team emerged as NCAA title favorites during the competition.
Forbes set an indoor personal record with his seasonal-best mark of 26 feet, 7 ¾ inches to catapult himself to the top of the NCAA rankings in the men’s long jump with his performance on Friday night.
The Lady Tigers followed Saturday by winning the invitational 4×400-meter relay championship with the NCAA-leading time of 3 minutes, 31.55 seconds as the team of senior Rebecca Alexander (53.50), senior Cassandra Tate (52.21), junior Siedda Herbert (53.42) and senior Jonique Day (52.43) earned victory over the nations’ No. 2 and No. 3 relay teams from Texas (3:32.63) and Arkansas (3:32.75).
The Tigers and Lady Tigers combined for five other performances that rank among the nation’s Top 10 in the 2012 indoor season during the two days of competition at this year’s Tyson Invitational.
While the Lady Tigers emerged as the national leaders in the 4×400-meter relay, the Tigers posted the No. 2-ranked time nationally in the event this season at 3:05.41.
Senior Barrett Nugent clocked an NCAA qualifying time of 7.70 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles and junior Caleb Williams raced to a new seasonal best of 46.31 in the 400-meter dash as each Tiger in ranked at No. 5 in the NCAA in their respective event for the 2012 season. In addition, both senior Kyron Blaise and junior Kimberlyn Duncan enjoyed performances that rank No. 6 in the NCAA this indoor season with Blaise jumping 52-7 ¼ in the triple jump and Duncan running 7.26 in the 60-meter dash.
The Tigers and Lady Tigers return home next weekend as they play host to the LSU Twilight on Friday at the Carl Maddox Field House in their final tune up before the championship season. The University of Kentucky will play host to the 2012 SEC Indoor Track & Field Championships in two weeks as the teams kick off the postseason Feb. 24-26 at the Nutter Field House.
USTFCCCA Top 25
WOMEN
Team (Points) Last Week
1. Oregon (188.07) 1
2. Clemson (146.62) 3
3. LSU (144.79) 2
4. Arkansas (139.42) 4
5. Texas A&M (79.87) 9
6. Kansas (74.00) 24
7. Florida (72.65) 32
8. Tennessee (67.06) 17
9. Texas Tech (65.12) 8
10. Southern Illinois (64.36) 11
11. Central Florida (63.50) 5
12. Texas (61.98) 6
13. Iowa State (60.17) 14
14. BYU (57.25) 7
15. Arizona (54.05) 10
16. Wisconsin (52.37) 29
17. Stanford (50.65) 23
18. Ohio State (48.10) 18
19. California (48.03) 70
20. Georgetown (46.86) 27
21. Florida State (43.43) 12
22. Washington (38.74) 28
23. Michigan State (37.97) 48
24. South Carolina (37.26) 44
25. UC-Santa Barbara (35.95) 30
MEN
Team (Points) Last Week
1. Arkansas (166.98) 1
2. Florida (166.09) 2
3. Texas A&M (126.13) 8
4. LSU (112.24) 3
5. Arizona (90.48) 5
6. Texas (89.79) 4
7. Arizona State (81.09) 24
8. Virginia Tech (73.19) 9
9. Mississippi State (72.81) 18
10. Indiana (65.25) 12
11. Minnesota (64.64) 10
12. Stanford (57.04) 7
13. Kansas State (51.81) 16
14. BYU (48.95) 14
15. Nebraska (47.83) 13
16. Auburn (44.83) 23
17. Penn State (42.53) 32
18. Georgia (42.01) 22
19. Ohio State (40.92) 15
20. Oregon (40.82) 21
21. Florida State (40.24) 6
22. Ole Miss (39.70) 19
23. Oklahoma (37.91) 11
24. Princeton (35.80) 48
25. Northern Arizona (35.59) 27