BATON ROUGE – The LSU Track & Field teams will join the national championship chase again this weekend at the NCAA Indoor Championships after combining for a total of 20 entries into the meet slated to begin Friday at Boise State’s Jacksons Indoor Track in Nampa, Idaho.
The 2012 indoor season will come to an end on Saturday as this year’s national champions are crowned at the NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships.
After earning a bronze-medal winning third-place finish in the final women’s team standings a season ago at the NCAA Indoor Championships, the Lady Tigers look to contend for the team title this weekend with 12 entries competing in nine different events on Friday and Saturday.
The Tigers are poised for a top-four trophy finish of their own with eight entries in six different events this weekend. The LSU men have finished in fourth place in the final men’s team standings In each of the last four seasons at the NCAA Indoor Championships dating back to the 2008 season.
Junior Kimberlyn Duncan is the only Lady Tiger to qualify for the NCAA Championship in two events as she will look to score big points in both the 60-meter dash and 200-meter dash.
Duncan is the reigning NCAA Indoor champion in the 200 meters after taking the title a year ago with her winning time of 22.85 seconds at the Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium in College Station, Texas.
Duncan is a national title contender in both short sprints this weekend as she enters the meet ranked No. 2 in the NCAA in the 200-meter dash with a seasonal-best time of 23.07 and No. 9 in the NCAA in the 60-meter dash with a seasonal-best and personal-best time of 7.26. She owns 13-straight wins against college competition in the 200-meter dash dating back to the 2011 indoor season.
Duncan is also poised to run on LSU’s 4×400-meter relay team if needed as she ran a 53.6-second split on the squad that captured the SEC Indoor championship just eight days ago.
The Lady Tigers own the No. 3-ranked 4×400-meter relay team in this year’s NCAA Championships field as the foursome of senior Rebecca Alexander, senior Cassandra Tate, junior Siedda Herbert and senior Jonique Day clocked a seasonal-best time of 3 minutes, 31.55 seconds at the Tyson Invitational.
Both Alexander and Tate have also qualified for the NCAA Championships in the open 400-meter dash as Alexander is the No. 3-ranked performer in the field with her seasonal best of 52.66 and Tate is tied as the No. 10-ranked performer in the event with her seasonal best of 53.13 in 2012. Alexander claimed the SEC Indoor crown in the 400-meter dash on Feb. 26 after running 52.77 in the conference final.
Junior Charlene Lipsey has also emerged as a national championship contender in the 800 meters with her performance this season as the SEC Indoor champion owns the NCAA’s No. 3-ranked time in the event at 2:03.79 that was set in her victory at the Razorback Invitational on Jan. 28.
After defending her SEC Indoor title in the 60-meter hurdles with a personal-best time of 8.03 in the final, sophomore Jasmin Stowers is among the national title contenders in the event this weekend as she will line up at the NCAA Indoor meet as the No. 4-ranked hurdler in the field. Joining Stowers in the field will be junior Shanekia Hall, who is tied as the No. 9-ranked hurdler competing this weekend.
The Lady Tigers feature two qualifiers who rank among the nation’s Top 10 performers in their respective field events as sophomores Denise Hinton and Lynnika Pitts are set to represent LSU Track & Field at the NCAA Indoor Championships for the first time in their collegiate careers.
Hinton is the No. 6-ranked performer in the 20-pound weight throw with her PR of 69 feet, 9 ¾ inches set in a qualifying effort at the LSU NCAA Indoor Qualifier on Friday afternoon. Pitts also took advantage of her last chance to qualify on Friday with an improved seasonal-best mark of 42-9 ¾ in the triple jump that is tied as the No. 9-ranked performance nationally this season.
Other Lady Tigers preparing to compete for All-America awards at the NCAA meet this weekend include senior Rachel Laurent in the pole vault and junior Takeia Pinckney in the 60-meter dash.
The Tigers are sure to be led at the NCAA Indoor Championships by junior jumper Damar Forbes, who is a leading contender for the long jump title as the NCAA’s No. 1-ranked performer in the event.
Forbes set an indoor PR of 26-7 ¾ to move to the top of the national rankings this season in the long jump with his victory at the Tyson Invitational on Feb. 10. He also owns the NCAA’s No. 7-ranked mark in the triple jump with a personal best of 52-10 ¼ that was set at the SEC Championships.
Like Forbes, senior Kyron Blaise is an NCAA Championships qualifier this weekend in both jumps, as he is the No. 5-ranked triple jumper in the NCAA field with a seasonal-best effort of 53-0 and tied as the No. 9-ranked long jumper in the field with a seasonal-best mark of 25-4 ½ for the 2012 indoor season.
After finishing as the NCAA Indoor runner-up in the 60-meter hurdles in 2011, senior Barrett Nugent will contend for the national title in the event as the No. 5 seed in the field this weekend with his seasonal best of 7.70. Nugent, who is the reigning NCAA Outdoor champion in the 110-meter hurdles, met the national qualifying standard of 7.70 in the final at the Tyson Invitational in February.
Fellow senior Michael Lauro established himself as an All-America contender this past weekend when he set a new personal record in the weight throw by nearly two feet with his seasonal-best mark of 72-6 ¼ on Friday afternoon. That gave Lauro the No. 4-ranked performance in the NCAA for 2012.
The Tigers also feature one of the nation’s premier mile relay teams this season as they enter the weekend with the No. 5-ranked time nationally at 3:05.41, which was recorded by the foursome of senior Robert Simmons, senior Riker Hylton, senior Ade Alleyne-Forte and junior Caleb Williams.
In addition, Williams has earned the right to run for the Tigers in the open 400-meter dash as he boasts an indoor seasonal best of 46.31 as the No. 13-ranked quartermiler in the field competing this weekend.
LSU’S 2012 NCAA Indoor Championships Qualifiers
Men
Athlete, Event, Top Mark/Time
Kyron Blaise, Long Jump, 25-4 ½
Kyron Blaise, Triple Jump, 53-0
Damar Forbes, Long Jump, 26-7 ¾
Damar Forbes, Triple Jump, 52-10 ¼
Michael Lauro, Weight Throw, 72-6 ¼
Barrett Nugent, 60 hurdles, 7.70
Caleb Williams, 400 meters, 46.31
Simmons, Hylton, Alleyne-Forte, Williams; 4×400 relay; 3:05.41
Women
Athlete, Event, Top Mark/Time
Rebecca Alexander, 400 meters, 52.66
Kimberlyn Duncan, 60 meters, 7.26
Kimberlyn Duncan, 200 meters, 23.07
Shanekia Hall, 60 hurdles, 8.15
Denise Hinton, Weight Throw, 69-9 ¾
Rachel Laurent, Pole Vault, 13-10 ½
Charlene Lipsey, 800 meters, 2:03.79
Takeia Pinckney, 60 meters, 7.34
Lynnika Pitts, Triple Jump, 42-9 ¾
Jasmin Stowers, 60 hurdles, 8.03
Cassandra Tate, 400 meters, 53.13
Alexander, Tate, Herbert, Day; 4×400 relay; 3:31.55