BATON ROUGE – After taking home a pair of top-10 finishes at the NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships two weeks ago, the LSU Track & Field teams have opened the outdoor season ranked among the nation’s best yet again with Tuesday’s release of the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Preseason Top 25 power rankings.
Led by six All-America performances for the weekend, the Tigers scored 19 points to tie for seventh place in the final men’s team standings and the Lady Tigers tallied 18 points to tie for ninth place in the final women’s team standings at this year’s NCAA Indoor Championships held March 13-14 at Arkansas’ Randal Tyson Track Center.
The Tigers open the outdoor season as the No. 4-ranked men’s team and the Lady Tigers kick off the campaign as the No. 18-ranked women’s team in the USTFCCCA Preseason Top 25 power rankings.
The preseason power rankings released by the USTFCCCA have been compiled using the seasonal-best performances for all athletes returning to the NCAA Division I ranks from the 2014 outdoor season. Returning for LSU Track & Field are nine All-Americans who helped the teams take home a pair of top-10 finishes at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships held at Oregon’s Hayward Field a year ago.
With Vernon Norwood and Quincy Downing winning NCAA Outdoor bronze medals in the 400 meters and 400 hurdles, respectively, and both of their 4×100-meter and 4×400-meter relays taking home bronze medals a season ago, the Tigers captured the fourth-place team trophy while scoring 29 points at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in 2014. Aaron Ernest added an All-American performance of his own by taking fourth place in the 200-meter final for his best career NCAA finish in the event last spring.
While the Tigers return all 29 points from last year’s NCAA squad, the Lady Tigers return 12 of the 34 points that claimed them a sixth-place team finish last season as NCAA Outdoor shot put silver medalist Tori Bliss and All-American 400-meter hurdler Chanice Chase look to lead the way to another outstanding season for the program in 2015.
After opening up their 2015 outdoor season by competing at the Louisiana Classics in Lafayette last weekend, the Tigers and Lady Tigers will return to action this weekend with their annual trip to Austin, Texas, for their appearance at the 88th Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays beginning Thursday and running through Saturday at Mike A. Myers Stadium at the University of Texas.
USTFCCCA NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field National Team Computer Rankings
2015 Preseason – March 24
Next ranking: April 6
MEN
Rank, Institution, Points
1, Texas A&M, 390.5
2, Florida, 384.72
3, Oregon, 325.99
4, LSU, 221.08
5, Texas, 205.35
6, Arkansas, 194.57
7, Southern California, 170.63
8, Georgia, 164.29
9, Florida State, 154.23
10, Texas Tech, 146.56
11, Alabama, 145.14
12, Oklahoma State, 132.77
13, Baylor, 122.8
14, Stanford, 119.01
15, Penn State, 116.9
16, Tennessee, 115.25
17, Nebraska, 105.09
18, Arizona State, 96.93
19, UCLA, 85.98
20, Virginia, 74.37
21, Washington, 72.02
22, Kentucky, 71.84
23, Houston, 71.53
24, Michigan, 64.63
25, Western Kentucky, 63.57
WOMEN
Rank, Institution, Points
1, Texas A&M, 311.82
2, Florida, 293.78
3, Texas, 287.62
4, Oregon, 272.55
5, Kentucky, 260.25
6, Georgia, 229.62
7, Arkansas, 207.42
8, Southern California, 200.91
9, Florida State, 156.96
10, Baylor, 147.22
11, Kansas State, 144.12
12, Stanford, 139.09
13, Texas Tech, 122.74
14, Oklahoma State, 121.93
15, Missouri, 113.96
16, Clemson, 98.01
17, Michigan, 96.65
18, LSU, 95.83
19, Miami (Fla.), 87
20, Michigan State, 86.67
21, Auburn, 86.05
22, Boise State, 84.26
23, UCLA, 83.23
24, NC State, 82.22
25, Kansas, 79.6