BATON ROUGE – After taking a weekend off following the NCAA Division I Indoor Championships in Birmingham nearly two weeks ago, the LSU Track & Field teams are ready to open up their outdoor season with a Spring Break trip to Miami to compete at the Hurricane Twilight meet being held Friday at the University of Miami in Coral Gables.
The early field events kick off the Hurricane Twilight at 11:30 a.m. CT and will run through 6 p.m. followed by a full slate of finals on the track beginning at 7:03 p.m. after a brief opening ceremony.
The University of Miami will treat fans to a live three-hour broadcast of the meet online at ESPN3.com from 5-8 p.m. CT with Juan Arango and Olympic Gold Medalist and Miami alumnae Lauryn Williams on the call.
Delta Timing will provide live results of Hurricane Twilight meet at http://deltatiming.com. Fans can also receive live updates of the Tigers and Lady Tigers competing in the event by following @LSUTrackField on Twitter at http://twitter.com/lsutrackfield and Instagram at http://instagram.com/lsutrackfield and by liking LSU Track & Field on Facebook at http://facebook.com/lsutrackfield.
As they do each season, LSU’s throwers are sure to take center stage in the team’s outdoor season opener as they have their first chance to compete in such events as the discus, hammer and javelin throws.
Junior Rebekah Wales will certainly be looking to get off to a strong start in 2016 in the wake of her All-American sophomore season a year ago when she placed fourth nationally at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships as one of the nation’s elite javelin throwers. The 2015 SEC javelin champion enters her junior season as LSU’s No. 2-ranked javelin thrower all-time with a lifetime best of 179 feet, 11 inches.
The Lady Tigers actually feature two of the NCAA’s top returning javelin throwers from last season as senior Annie Simoneaux enters her final season with the program after earning a 10th-place finish nationally in 2015. A former All-SEC performer in her own right as the 2012 SEC Bronze Medalist, Simoneaux owns a career-best mark of 165-6 set last season.
Among the Tigers stepping into the ring for the first time outdoors will be senior Patrick Geers and junior Johnnie Jackson in both the discus and hammer throws. They will also be joined in the hammer throw by senior David Collins as each looks to get off to a fast start in the outdoor season
An NCAA Championships qualifier in the weight throw indoors, Jackson was a two-time national silver medalist in the hammer throw at the junior college level during his time at Coffeyville Community College. There is where he posted his personal-best throw of 208-6 during his sophomore season a year ago. Collins and Geers have also eclipsed the 200-foot mark with PRs of 206-5 and 202-0, respectively.
Friday’s finals on the track will be headlined by the season-opening races for the Tigers and Lady Tigers in both the 4×100-meter and 4×400-meter relays as they open what is sure to be All-American campaigns.
The Tigers will step onto the track for their first men’s 4×100-meter relay race of the year with a pool of athletes that includes juniors Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake, Jordan Moore and Tinashe Mutanga and freshman Jaron Flournoy. The Lady Tigers will select from a relay pool that includes junior Jada Martin; sophomores Mikiah Brisco, Rushell Harvey and Aleia Hobbs; and freshmen Kortnei Johnson and Rachel Misher.
The Tigers themselves are fresh off being crowned NCAA Indoor Champions in the men’s 4×400-meter relay in their last appearance in the event at the national meet in Birmingham Crossplex with senior Cyril Grayson, junior LaMar Bruton, junior Michael Cherry and senior Fitzroy Dunkley teaming for the title. Dunkley also anchored Jamaica at the IAAF World Indoor Championships on Sunday.
Bruton (200 meters), Cherry (200 meters), Flournoy (200 meters), Grayson (800 meters), Mitchell-Blake (400 meters), Moore (110 hurdles), Mutanga (200 meters) will also make their outdoor debut in individual events on Friday.
Among the Lady Tigers sure to feature in individual finals at the Hurricane Twilight include Brisco (200 meters), Harvey (100 meters, 200 meters), Johnson (100 meters, 200 meters), Martin (400 meters) and Misher (200 meters), as well as senior All-American Chanice Chase in her debut appearance in the 400-meter hurdles in her final season with the Lady Tigers.
NCAA Indoor qualifiers Morgan Schuetz, Hannah Deworth and Hollie Parker headline the entries in the longer distances with Schuetz running the 3,000 meters, Deworth lining up in the 800 meters and Parker running the 1,500 meters on Friday night.
After opening up their outdoor season at Miami’s Hurricane Twilight on Friday, the Tigers and Lady Tigers will be off to the races at the 89th Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays next week as they will compete March 31-April 2 at Mike A. Myers Stadium at the University of Texas. The teams return to Baton Rouge for the first time in two weeks as they play host to their first of three home meets during the 2016 outdoor season with the sixth-annual Battle on the Bayou running on the afternoon of April 9 at the Bernie Moore Track Stadium.