BATON ROUGE – Fresh off a pair of top-10 team finishes at the NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships last weekend, the LSU Track & Field teams will open their 2015 outdoor season straightaway with a return trip to Lafayette to compete at this year’s Louisiana Classics meet being held Friday and Saturday at the Ragin’ Cajuns Track Stadium.
Members of LSU’s throws and distance groups will open the competition on Friday with the javelin competitions beginning at 3 p.m. CT and the men’s 10,000 meters being held at 8:45 p.m. Saturday’s action continues at 9 a.m. CT with the first field events of the day followed by the first finals on the track at 2:30 p.m.
Fans can follow the Tigers and Lady Tigers in action throughout the Louisiana Classics this weekend as event-by-event live results from the meet can be found online at http://results.flotrack.org.
Fans are also invited to join LSU Track & Field’s always-growing social media following to receive additional coverage for the men’s and women’s teams throughout the season by liking LSU Track & Field on Facebook at http://facebook.com/lsutrackfield and by following @LSUTrackField on both Twitter at http://twitter.com/lsutrackfield and Instagram at http://instagram.com/lsutrackfield.
As they do each season, LSU’s throwers are sure to take center stage in the team’s outdoor opener as they have their first opportunity to compete in such events as the discus, hammer and javelin throws in 2015.
Chappell Hill, Texas, native Rodney Brown will certainly be looking to get off to a strong start in his senior season when he steps into the discus ring for the first time on Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. along with two Tiger juniors in Patrick Geers and Terry Hughes. An All-American in the event as the fourth-place finishers nationally at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships in 2013, Brown is one of the NCAA’s returning title contenders after setting LSU’s school record of 212 feet, 2 inches in the event as a junior last summer.
Brown was crowned the men’s discus champion at the Louisiana Classics the last time the LSU Track & Field teams appeared in the meet in 2013 as he opened his sophomore season with a winning 197-1.
A former NCAA Championships qualifier in his own right in both the hammer and javelin throws, fellow senior Jeremy Tuttle is also sure to headline this weekend’s action in Lafayette as he competes in both events for the Tigers with the men’s javelin set for 5 p.m. CT on Friday afternoon and the men’s hammer throw scheduled for 11 a.m. CT on Saturday morning.
Tuttle earned a 16th-place finish in the national semifinals of the hammer as a junior in 2014 after taking home a 21st-place finish in the national semifinals of the javelin as a freshman in 2012 with his efforts at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. He owns personal bests of 216-8 in the hammer throw and 227-6 in the javelin as he seeks his first career All-America honors with the Tigers as a senior this spring.
Joining Tuttle in the men’s javelin on Friday are Hughes and juniors Garret LeBouef and the men’s hammer on Saturday are Geers and fellow junior David Collins as they see their first action outdoors this season.
Making their outdoor season debut for the Lady Tigers this weekend will be juniors Mayme Cook and Doren Welch and sophomore Alli Brasuell in the women’s javelin throw on Friday at 3 p.m. CT and freshmen Gabby Figueroa, Marvalyn Vernon and Sidnie Wilder in their collegiate debuts in the women’s hammer throw on Saturday at 9 a.m.
Saturday’s finals on the track will be headlined by the season-opening races for the Tigers and Lady Tigers in both the 4×100-meter and 4×400-meter relays as they open what are sure to be an All-American campaign.
Others who will feature on the track at the Louisiana Classics this weekend are 2015 NCAA Indoor Championship qualifier Joshua Thompson and 2014 Big 12 Conference Champion Jordan Moore in the men’s 110-meter hurdles, 2014 NCAA semifinalist Rushell Harvey in the women’s 100-meter dash and 2014 NCAA East Prelim qualifiers Chanice Chase and Mariah Georgetown in the women’s 100-meter hurdles. Moore will debut in the 110 hurdles for LSU on Saturday after winning the 2014 Big 12 Outdoor title as a redshirt freshman at TCU.
After selected athletes open up their 2015 outdoor season this weekend at the Louisiana Classics, many of the Tigers and Lady Tigers will see their first action for this outdoor season next weekend with a trip to Austin, Texas, to compete at the 88th Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays that will run from March 26-28 at Mike A. Myers Stadium at the University of Texas.