BATON ROUGE – With the 2016 indoor season now in full swing following a successful trip to Birmingham a week ago, the LSU Track & Field teams look to build momentum and put themselves in position for NCAA qualification at the Razorback Invitational being held Friday and Saturday at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Friday’s action kicks off at 11 a.m. CT with the multi-events and 3 p.m. in the field events followed by the first events on the track at 6 p.m. to kick off the evening session. Saturday’s finale for the Razorback Invitational is scheduled to get underway at 11:15 a.m. with the first finals on the track followed by the field events at Noon.
The Tigers and Lady Tigers make their SEC Network debut this season at the Razorback Invitational as Friday’s events will be streamed online on the SEC Network+ from 5-8:30 p.m. CT and Saturday’s events are set for a live television broadcast on the SEC Network from 12:30-4:30 p.m.
Live results of both days of the competition will be provided by Flash Results as fans can follow the Tigers and Lady Tigers in action throughout the weekend by going online to http://flashresults.com.
Fans can also receive live updates of those Tigers and Lady Tigers competing on both days of this year’s Razorback Team Invitational by following @LSUTrackField on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/lsutrackfield and Instagram at http://www.instagram.com/lsutrackfield and by liking LSU Track & Field on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/lsutrackfield.
LSU will join many of the premier teams in collegiate track and field at the Randal Tyson Track Center this weekend as the Tigers have climbed up to No. 6 and the Lady Tigers are ranked No. 18 in the latest U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Top 25 power rankings that were released on Monday ahead of the competition.
Joining the Tigers in the men’s field will be No. 1 Florida, No. 3 Texas A&M, No. 5 Oregon, No. 7 Georgia, No. 11 Arkansas, No. 16 Oklahoma State, Florida State, Iowa, Iowa State, Oklahoma and UCLA. Rounding out this year’s women’s field are No. 1 Arkansas, No. 2 Georgia, No. 5 Oregon, No. 6 Florida, No. 20 Texas A&M, Florida State, Iowa, Iowa State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and UCLA.
“We’ve shown good progression as a team through the first few weeks of the season. It’s time to take it a step further and show improvement on the performances that we’ve seen to this point,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “The indoor season comes and goes very quickly. We’re already at the midway point of the season before we go to SECs, so it’s important to take advantage of every opportunity we have.
“Many of these events will be very much like an SEC and NCAA final with the teams that are in this meet, so this will be a great opportunity for our athletes to take another big step in their progression this season.”
The Top 16 athletes and Top 12 relays that declare in each event at the end of the season will feature at the 2016 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships set to run March 11-12 at the Birmingham Crossplex in Birmingham, Alabama. The Tigers and Lady Tigers will feature eight athletes and relays currently in qualifying position for the NCAA Championships in Fayetteville this weekend.
After setting the national-leading time of 7.69 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles at the Conference Clash Power Five Invitational last weekend, junior Jordan Moore looks to cement his status as an NCAA-title contender and All-America candidate in the event when he steps into the blocks once again at the Randal Tyson Track Center.
Fellow junior Jada Martin lined up in her first 200-meter dash of the 2016 season at the Birmingham Crossplex last weekend and delivered the seventh-fastest time in the country at 23.46 on the women’s side as she is looking to solidify her NCAA qualification with another strong performance this weekend. Junior Nataliyah Friar will feature in the women’s long jump in Friday’s opener only one week after jumping 20 feet, 5 inches in her season debut in the event to rank No. 10 nationally.
Sophomore Jack Wilkes is also off to a fast start and will look to improve this weekend after running a lifetime best of 1 minute, 49.79 seconds in his first 800-meter race a week ago to rank No. 15 nationally.
LSU’s relay teams are led by the performance of the Tigers’ reigning NCAA Outdoor Champion 4×400-meter relay team that clocked the NCAA’s No. 2-ranked time of 3:05.77 a week ago with senior Cyril Grayson, junior LaMar Bruton, junior Michael Cherry and senior Fitzroy Dunkley already among the favorites to claim the NCAA Indoor title this season.
The members of the Tigers’ 4×400-meter relay pool are also set to make their much-anticipated season debuts in the 400-meter dash at the Razorback Team Invitational after running the 200 meters last weekend.
Other relay teams looking to improve their seasonal-best times this weekend include the men’s distance medley relay with the No. 4-ranked time in the country this season at 9:48.63, the women’s DMR with their No. 7-ranked time nationally at 11:29.84 and the women’s 4×400-meter relay with the ninth-fastest time of the season at 3:37.63 run in Birmingham a week ago.
Tiger junior Johnnie Jackson finds himself on the cusp of NCAA Championship qualification as he steps into the ring this weekend as the No. 19-ranked performer nationally in the men’s weight throw with his top mark of 67-2 ¾ set in his LSU debut at the Purple Tiger Invitational three weeks ago. Jackson is currently just over one foot outside the Top 16 qualifying positions in the event.
After competing at the Razorback Team Invitational in Fayetteville this weekend, the Tigers and Lady Tigers will head back on the road next weekend with a trip to the Albuquerque Convention Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to compete at the two-day New Mexico Collegiate Classic running Feb. 5-6.