BATON ROUGE – As the LSU Track & Field teams prepare to play host to their annual LSU Twilight meet at the Carl Maddox Field House on Friday, the Tigers and Lady Tigers find themselves ranked among the NCAA’s elite teams once again with Monday’s release of the latest U.S Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Top 25 power rankings.
Led by four of the NCAA’s top-two performers in their respective events this season, the Tigers are squarely in the NCAA team trophy hunt as they are the No. 4-ranked men’s team nationally with just one week to go in the regular season. The Lady Tigers have cracked the Top 25 as the No. 22-ranked women’s team this week.
The Tigers are eyeing their third indoor national championship in program history and first since the 2004 season as they find themselves in a tight race at the top of this week’s national rankings as SEC teams feature in each of the top four spots on the men’s side. LSU follows No. 1 Arkansas, No. 2 Tennessee and No. 3 Texas A&M as the top-ranked men’s teams in the country in 2016.
The Lady Tigers feature three top-10 and 10 top-20 performers in their events following the weekend as they crack the latest USTFCCCA women’s power rankings as the No. 22-ranked team in the country this year.
This week’s release of the USTFCCCA Top 25 power rankings marks the first time this season that the organization is using only performances recorded during the 2015 indoor season for its calculation.
LSU’s athletes are preparing for the start of the championship season next week when they return to Fayetteville, Arkansas, for the 2016 SEC Indoor Track & Field Championships running Feb. 26-27 at the Randal Tyson Track Center. This year’s NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships will follow March 11-12 as the 2016 indoor season comes to an close at the Birmingham Sportsplex in Birmingham, Alabama.
Two Tigers continue to remain the No. 1-ranked performers in their events following the weekend as junior Michael Cherry is the nation’s leading 400-meter sprinter with a seasonal-best run of 45.78 and junior Jordan Moore is tied as the top sprint hurdler in the country with a best of 7.69 on the year. Fellow junior Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake surrendered his NCAA lead in the 200 meters over the weekend as he now ranks No. 2 while running a seasonal best of 20.57. The Tigers also feature the nation’s second-fastest 4×400-meter relay team at 3:04.46 for 2016.
The Lady Tigers are also led by their sprint squad this season as junior Jada Martin and sophomore Mikiah Brisco rank among the nation’s best in their respective events. Martin is the No. 5-ranked 200-meter runner on the year with a best of 23.10, while Brisco ranks No. 6 in the 60 meters with a time of 7.25 and tied for No. 14 in the 60 hurdles with a time of 8.20 with just two weeks of NCAA qualifying to go.
USTFCCCA Top 25 (as of Feb. 15)
MEN
Team (Points) Last Week
1. Arkansas (114.53) 8
2. Tennessee (107.14) 7
3. Texas A&M (101.36) 2
4. LSU (92.86) 4
5. Texas (90.20) 5
6. Oregon (88.66) 6
7. Texas Tech (77.63) 14
8. Georgia (67.43) 10
9. Southern California (65.84) 17
10. Florida (62.93) 1
11. Syracuse (58.82) 21
12. Virginia Tech (56.52) 3
13. Southeastern Louisiana (52.87) 30
14. Penn State (51.63) 20
15. Georgetown (51.45) 28
16. Stanford (49.95) 11
17. Ole Miss (44.60) 60
18. NC State (42.60) 19
19. Washington (41.62) 12
20. TCU (40.11) 9
21. Tulsa (39.99) 26
22. Purdue (38.80) 23
23. Air Force (37.54) 40
24. Oklahoma State (36.72) 24
25. Houston (36.39) 33
WOMEN
Team (Points) Last Week
1. Florida (155.67) 4
2. Oregon (155.00) 3
3. Georgia (154.52) 2
4. Arkansas (146.27) 1
5. Texas (95.94) 5
6. Kansas State (88.05) 6
7. Tennessee (85.00) 14
8. NC State (76.62) 9
9. Michigan (75.66) 11
10. Southern California (72.35) 7
11. Georgetown (65.46) 8
12. Oklahoma State (64.59) 22
13. Kentucky (61.66) 12
14. Washington (57.66) 33
15. Notre Dame (55.09) 16
16. Miami, Fla. (53.78) 15
17. Duke (53.36) 20
18. Boise State (46.67) 31
19. Texas A&M (45.63) 18
20. Stanford (44.72) 13
21. Purdue (43.25) 29
22. LSU (41.68) 21
23. Akron (41.68) 19
24. Wisconsin (38.71) 10
25. Auburn (34.79) 49