BATON ROUGE – Members of the LSU Track & Field team are ready to make their third trip this season to the Randal Tyson Track Center at the University of Arkansas this weekend as the Tigers and Lady Tigers kick off the championship season at the 2016 SEC Indoor Track & Field Championships running Friday and Saturday in Fayetteville.
With the SEC Indoor Championships returning to the Randal Tyson Track Center for the first time since 2013, it marks the third time this season that LSU will compete at the University of Arkansas after also appearing at the Razorback Invitational on Jan. 29-30 and the Tyson Invitational on Feb. 12-13.
Athletes competing in conference meets across the country have one final opportunity to post a qualifying mark for the NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships as Friday’s action in Fayetteville is scheduled to get underway at 4 p.m. CT with the first final in the field and the first preliminary races on the track. Saturday’s action continues at 1 p.m. in the field events and 3 p.m. with the first finals on the track.
The 2016 SEC Indoor Track & Field Championships will run through the men’s and women’s 4×400-meter relays with this year’s team champions being crowned on Saturday afternoon at approximately 7:30 p.m. CT.
Fans can watch the Tigers and Lady Tigers in action this weekend as the online SEC Network+ will broadcast live coverage of the championship on Friday from 3:55-8:15 p.m. CT and Saturday from 2:55-7:30 p.m. The live video from the meet can be found online at http://ESPN3.com or by using the WatchESPN app available on all smartphones and tablet devices.
Highlights from this year’s SEC Indoor Championships are also scheduled for a two-hour, tape-delay broadcast on ESPNU as fans can also watch events from the meet on Sunday night from 6-8 p.m. CT.
Fans following the Tigers and Lady Tigers in action during the championships can also receive live updates and behind-the-scenes coverage from the Randal Tyson Track Center at the University of Arkansas by following @LSUTrackField on Twitter at http://twitter.com/lsutrackfield and Instagram at http://instagram.com/lsutrackfield and liking LSU Track & Field on Facebook at http://facebook.com/lsutrackfield.
LSU’s teams are among 13 SEC programs ranked in this week’s U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Top 25 power rankings as the Tigers have cracked the Top 5 nationally at No. 3 for the men’s side and the Lady Tigers checked in at No. 12 nationally on the women’s side in the latest rankings released on Monday afternoon.
All six nationally-ranked men’s teams competing in the meet are ranked among the Top 10 nationally this week as the third-ranked Tigers join the likes of No. 1-ranked Arkansas, No. 4-ranked Tennessee, No. 5-ranked Texas A&M, No. 8-ranked Georgia and No. 10-ranked Florida. The women’s race will feature four Top 10 and seven Top 25 teams in the country this indoor season as No. 2 Georgia, No. 3 Florida, No. 4 Arkansas and No. 8 Tennessee compete with No. 12 LSU, No. 15 Kentucky and No. 20 Texas A&M this weekend.
The Florida men and Arkansas women are the defending team champions at the SEC Indoor Championships after the Gators scored 114 points on the men’s side and the Razorbacks piled up 130 points on the women’s side to take the team trophies home from Kentucky’s Nutter Field House a year ago. The Tigers and Lady Tigers swept fifth-place team finishes with 53 points and 51 points, respectively.
LSU Track & Field is among the most successful programs in the history of the SEC Indoor Championships as the Tigers and Lady Tigers have combined to take home 16 team wins all-time from the meet. The Lady Tigers are the winningest women’s program with 12 SEC Indoor titles all-time to lead the eight won by the Florida women, while the Tigers have been crowned SEC Indoor Champions four times in their history.
Former All-American Tori Bliss extended the Lady Tigers’ impressive streak of 31-straight seasons of winning at least one SEC Indoor event crown with her meet-record throw of 60 feet, 1 inch to win the women’s shot put title to highlight last year’s championship. Theirs is a title-winning streak that dates back to their debut appearance at the SEC Indoor meet in 1985.
Former Tiger All-American Aaron Ernest was also crowned an SEC Indoor Champion a year ago when he reclaimed the crown he first won as a sophomore in 2013 with a winning time of 20.69 seconds in the final.
While Bliss and Ernest won’t return to defend their titles, this year’s squad features four athletes and one relay team with the SEC’s No. 1 ranking in their events as they are among the title favorites lining up this week.
The Tigers are led by juniors Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake with a time of 20.57 in the 200 meters and Jordan Moore with a time of 7.69 in the 60-meter hurdles, as well as their SEC-leading 4×400-meter relay with a seasonal best of 3 minutes, 4.46 seconds on the year. Junior Morgan Schuetz tops the SEC with a time of 2:04.05 in the 800 meters and sophomore Mikiah Brisco leads the league with a time of 8.06 in the 60 hurdles.
With the SEC awarding all-conference honors to the Top 3 finishers in each event, Brisco leads a host of other Tigers and Lady Tigers vying for championship honors as the SEC’s No. 2-ranked 60-meter sprinter in 2016 at 7.25. Also ranking No. 2 in the SEC this season are junior Michael Cherry (45.78) in the 400 meters, junior Johnnie Jackson (70-5 ¾) in the weight throw, sophomore Daeshon Gordon (8.10) in the 60-meter hurdles and the Lady Tigers’ distance medley relay with a seasonal-best time of 11:05.34.
Sunday will be the final day any team can strengthen its NCAA Championship roster by with athletes achieving a qualifying performance for the national meet. The Top 16 individuals and Top 12 relays in each event that declare will compete at the 2016 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships being held March 11-12 at the Birmingham Crossplex in Birmingham, Alabama.