BATON ROUGE – Members of the LSU Track & Field program will span out across the country this weekend as the Tigers and Lady Tigers will headline two-day events at the Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and Iowa State Classic in Ames, Iowa, on Friday and Saturday while also playing host to the LSU High Performance Meet on Saturday.
LSU’s sprinters and hurdlers will be making a return trip to Arkansas’ Randal Tyson Track Center to compete in a loaded field at the Tyson Invitational that kicks off Friday at 1:15 p.m. CT with their first event on the track to start the competition. Saturday’s action continues at 12:30 p.m. CT with their first finals of the afternoon.
This marks the second time in three weeks that the Tigers and Lady Tigers will feature at the Randal Tyson Track Center after also traveling to Fayetteville for the Razorback Invitational two weeks ago.
The Tigers and Lady Tigers will be looking to improve their seasonal bests and build momentum for the championship season that is also set to begin at the Randal Tyson Track Center in just over two weeks as the SEC’s best will return to the University of Arkansas for the SEC Indoor Track & Field Championships running Feb. 26-27.
While LSU’s sprinters and hurdlers will take to the track at the Randal Tyson Track Center at Arkansas, the team’s middle distance and distance runners will look to improve their seasonal-best times running on the 300-meter oversized track at Iowa State’s Lied Recreational Center in Ames at the Iowa State Classic that is also scheduled to run Friday and Saturday.
The Tigers and Lady Tigers compete at the Iowa State Classic for the first time Friday at 1:10 p.m. CT followed by the start of Saturday’s action at 10 a.m. Their last event is scheduled to run Saturday at 4:10 p.m.
With the Tyson Invitational and Iowa State Classic already underway, fans are invited to come out to the Carl Maddox Field House in Baton Rouge on Saturday and see the Tigers and Lady Tigers in action at the LSU High Performance Meet that is set to begin at 10 a.m. CT with the first field events of the day followed by the first preliminary races on the track at Noon CT.
Fans can also receive live updates of the Tigers and Lady Tigers competing in Arkansas, Iowa and right here in Baton Rouge by following the team on social media. Fans are invited to follow @LSUTrackField on Twitter at http://twitter.com/lsutrackfield and Instagram at http://instagram.com/lsutrackfield, while also liking LSU Track & Field on Facebook at http://facebook.com/lsutrackfield.
Athletes are looking to cement their position among the Top 16 nationally in their respective events to qualify for a place at the 2016 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships that are scheduled to run March 11-12 at the Birmingham Crossplex in Birmingham, Alabama.
Of LSU’s 11 athletes and relays that currently rank among the qualifying positions for the NCAA Championships, seven will feature at the Tyson Invitational both individually and as part of LSU’s 4×400-meter relays.
The Tigers headline the events at the Randal Tyson Track Center with three men’s national leaders taking to the track as junior Michael Cherry will run the 400 meters on Friday, junior Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake will race the 200 meters on Saturday and the Tigers highlight the field in the 4×400 relay in the final event of the meet.
Cherry clocked a season-opening national leader of 45.78 seconds in his last appearance at Arkansas when he won the invitational event at the Razorback Invitational. That was before he clocked a meet-leading split of 45.30 on the third leg while teaming with senior Cyril Grayson, junior LaMar Bruton and senior Fitzroy Dunkley with a winning 3 minutes, 4.46 seconds in the invitational 4×400-meter relay two weeks ago.
Dunkley and Bruton are set to join Cherry in the championship section of the men’s 400 meters on Friday as Dunkley ranks in a tie for No. 13 nationally with a time of 46.75 and Bruton enters at No. 19 nationally with his seasonal best of 46.87 also run at the Razorback Invitational two weeks ago. They will team with Grayson in running the 4×400 relay once again on Saturday afternoon.
Mitchell-Blake’s season-opening 20.57 in the 200 meters has remained the NCAA leader for the past three weeks since he crossed the finish line in the final at the Conference Clash Power Five Invitational three weeks ago on Jan. 23. His appearance in the championship section on Saturday will mark his second appearance in the event this season.
Two Lady Tigers who returned home from the New Mexico Collegiate Classic last weekend as the NCAA’s No. 3-ranked performers in their events are set to return to action at the Tyson Invitational with junior sprinter Jada Martin lining up in the 200 meters with a personal best of 23.10 and sophomore sprinter Mikiah Brisco stepping into the blocks in the 60 meters with a seasonal best of 7.25 on the year.
The Lady Tigers also return to Fayetteville looking to improve upon their No. 11 national ranking in the women’s 4×400-meter relay after Martin anchored a squad that also featured junior Travia Jones, freshman Rachel Misher and sophomore Kymber Payne that clocked a seasonal best of 3:35.99 on the final day of the Razorback Invitational.
Headlining LSU’s contingent at Iowa State is Lady Tiger junior Morgan Schuetz, who is set to make her season debut in the 800 meters after qualifying for the NCAA semifinals in the event both indoors and outdoors as a sophomore a year ago. Schuetz already ranks among the Top 20 milers in the country this season with seasonal best and personal best of 4:40.07 for the No. 19 spot in the national rankings for 2016.
Fellow junior Blair Henderson looks to move into the Top 16 qualifying positions for the NCAA Championships as his 800-meter seasonal best of 1:48.42 currently ranks No. 18 in the country on the men’s side.
Saturday’s LSU High Performance Meet will feature the NCAA’s fastest sprint hurdler this season as national championship contender and All-America hopeful Jordan Moore will line up in the preliminary heats starting at Noon CT. Moore’s seasonal best and personal best of 7.69 is tied atop the NCAA rankings in the men’s 60-meter hurdles so far this season.
Other LSU standouts competing at the Carl Maddox Field House who rank among the NCAA’s Top 25 in their events include junior Johnnie Jackson in the weight throw and junior Jonathan Pitt in the triple jump.
After spanning the country to compete in three different meets this weekend, the Tigers and Lady Tigers return home next weekend as they play host to their annual LSU Twilight meet on Friday, Feb. 19, at LSU’s Carl Maddox Field House. That will be their final opportunity to compete before the championship season that kicks off at the SEC Indoor Championships at the University of Arkansas in two weeks.