BATON ROUGE – The LSU Track & Field teams will have one final opportunity to prepare for the championship season indoors this weekend when they return home Friday to play host to this year’s LSU Twilight meet being held on campus as the Carl Maddox Field House.
The field events are scheduled to get underway at 12:30 p.m. CT with the men’s weight throw. The action starts on the track at 5:15 p.m. with the preliminary round of the men’s and women’s 60-meter hurdles.
Live results from this year’s LSU Twilight meet will be provided by LSUsports.net. Fans can also receive live updates of the Tigers and Lady Tigers competing during Friday’s action by liking LSU Track & Field on Facebook and following @LSUTrackField on Twitter.
Friday’s competition marks the final meet of the regular season for the Tigers and Lady Tigers as they are preparing to compete at the 2012 Southeastern Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships being held next weekend on Feb. 24-26 at the Nutter Field House in Lexington, Ky.
As they prepare for their first home meet of the 2012 season, the Lady Tigers are ranked No. 3 and the Tigers are ranked No. 4 in this week’s national Top 25 power ranking released Tuesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. Among the other competitors in the meet are such teams as Hinds Community College, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, Nicholls State, Northwestern State, Southeastern Louisiana, Southern, Southern Mississippi and Tulane.
“This is just another big step for both of our teams in our preparation for the championship season,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “Since we’ve been on the road in the first five weeks of the season, some of our athletes who have already qualified for the NCAA Championships will get this weekend off to rest, which will give us a better opportunity to compete in the coming weeks.
“There are still a number of athletes competing tomorrow that will have a chance to either get that NCAA qualifying performance or improve their potential seed during the LSU Twilight.”
Senior Barrett Nugent is the lone LSU Track & Field athlete scheduled to compete Friday who has posted an automatic qualifying performance for the NCAA Championships for the 2012 indoor season.
Nugent clocked a seasonal best 7.70 seconds to take third place in Saturday’s championship final with the men’s 60-meter hurdles to highlight the final day of action for the Tigers during the Tyson Invitational held at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Ark. Nugent’s seasonal-best time of 7.70 is the No. 5-ranked performance in the NCAA for the 2012 season as he is now qualified for the national meet.
Six other LSU athletes who are on the cusp of the NCAA qualifying standard in their respective event this season are also slated for action at the LSU Twilight meet on Friday.
Four Lady Tigers who rank among the nation’s Top 20 in their respective events are in position to qualify for the NCAA Championships this weekend, including junior All-American Takeia Pinckney in the 60-meter dash (7.34), sophomore All-American Jasmin Stowers (8.11) and junior Shanekia Hall (8.28) in the 60-meter hurdles (8.28) and sophomore Denise Hinton in the weight throw (66-11 ¼).
Two Tigers also enter Friday’s competition among the nation’s Top 25 performers in the 60-meter dash as senior Keyth Talley owns a seasonal best of 6.67 and junior Rynell Parson boasts a top time of 6.69 in the 2012 season as each will look to improve their position as they eye a spot in the national meet.