BATON ROUGE – With a host of athletes improving their NCAA qualifying positions at the Tyson Invitational and Iowa State Classic this past weekend, LSU’s men’s and women’s track and field teams have both earned No. 5 national rankings in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association power rankings released Monday.
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 2016 indoor season for its ranking calculation.
The Tigers and Lady Tigers turned in four top-five and 10 top-10 performances in the NCAA ranking this season between appearances at the Tyson Invitational at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and the Iowa State Classic at the Lied Recreational Center in Ames.
Junior Mikiah Brisco set the pace this weekend with the nation’s second-fastest time this season in the 60-meter hurdles as she won the Tyson Invitational title with a personal best of 7.98 seconds to finish just off the school record of 7.96 held by former Lady Tiger great Jasmin Stowers. Brisco was already the NCAA’s No. 3-ranked performer in the 60-meter dash this season with a 2017 best of 7.19.
Other Lady Tigers to crack the NCAA’s Top 10 this season at the Tyson Invitational were senior Jada Martin with the No. 5-ranked time in the 200 meters at 22.95 and sophomore Kortnei Johnson with a new indoor best and No. 6-ranked time in the 60 meters at 7.24. Martin also joined the likes of Kymber Payne, Rachel Misher and Travia Jones in clocking the nation’s seventh-fastest 4×400-meter relay on the women’s side this season as they teamed for a winning run of 3 minutes, 32.33 seconds at the Tyson Invitational.
Seniors Michael Cherry and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake were the top Tigers to compete at the Tyson Invitational as both emerged from the weekend as the NCAA’s No. 3-ranked performer in their respective events.
Cherry opened the Tyson Invitational on Friday by running a seasonal-best time of 45.84 in the men’s invitational 400 meters, while Mitchell-Blake followed on Saturday by running an indoor personal best in his season opener in the 200 meters at 20.49 to finish as the third-fastest collegian in 2017. They also ran on LSU’s 4×400-meter relay team along with LaMar Bruton and Jaron Flournoy that clocked 3:05.68 to rank No. 7.
LSU’s 800-meter runners wrote the headlines Saturday at the Iowa State Classic as seniors Blair Henderson and Morgan Schuetz and freshman Ruby Stauber each had a top-10 time in the nation this season with indoor personal bests. Henderson beat LSU’s indoor school record with a run of 1:47.34 to rank No. 9 nationally on the men’s side, while Schuetz ran the No. 7-ranked time at 2:03.01 and Stauber posted the No. 9-ranked time at 2:03.87 in the women’s national rankings this season.
Each has also helped form two of the NCAA’s leading distance medley relay teams this season as the Lady Tigers currently rank No. 7 nationally at 11:08.44 and the Tigers rank No. 9 nationally at 9:36.22 for the event.
Senior Johnnie Jackson, who won his fourth-straight weight throw title with a mark of 73-1 ¼ at the Iowa State Classic on Friday, held onto his NCAA lead in the event following this weekend as his season-opening 77-3 ¾ from the Auburn Indoor Invitational remains atop the standings. Junior Aleia Hobbs also held firm in the NCAA’s Top 10 of the women’s 60 meters with her seasonal best of 7.25 to rank No. 7.
LSU’s teams return home this weekend as they play host to the LSU Twilight on Friday with the field events starting at 2:30 p.m. CT followed by the first preliminary races on the track at 3:30 p.m. A select group of Tiger and Lady Tiger middle distance runners will also make the trip to South Bend, Indiana, to compete at the Alex Wilson Invitational running Saturday afternoon at Notre Dame’s Loftus Sports Center.
This weekend marks their final opportunity to prepare for the start of the championship season next weekend as the Vanderbilt Multipurpose Facility in Nashville will serve as the host site of the 2017 SEC Indoor Track & Field Championships running Feb. 24-25.
USTFCCCA Top 25 (as of Feb. 13)
MEN
Team (Points) Last Week
1. Florida (156.49) 1
2. Oregon (129.42) 2
3. Arkansas (102.07) 5
4. Texas A&M (88.45) 6
5. LSU (85.95) 3
6. Georgia (84.15) 7
7. Colorado (79.59) 17
8. Kansas (75.37) 16
9. UTEP (74.42) 19
10. Tennessee (67.40) 14
11. Texas (66.60) 15
12. Colorado State (66.21) 10
13. Texas Tech (64.20) 12
14. Virginia (61.57) 4
15. Southern California (61.19) 8
16. Iowa (54.49) 32
17. Virginia Tech (51.69) 18
18. Indiana (49.95) 30
19. Houston (49.47) 26
20. Alabama (48.35) 11
21. Southern Illinois (46.38) 23
22. Oklahoma State (45.46) 20
23. Washington (44.69) 21
24. Syracuse (44.03) 9
25. Georgetown (43.30) 51
WOMEN
Team (Points) Last Week
1. Oregon (249.07) 1
2. Georgia (170.09) 3
3. Arkansas (160.82) 2
4. Southern California (121.68) 4
5. LSU (119.69) 7
6. Kentucky (107.77) 6
7. Texas (81.82) 8
8. Baylor (77.88) 12
9. Alabama (70.04) 17
10. Florida (68.35) 5
11. Ole Miss (67.21) 11
12. Texas A&M (62.38) 48
13. Kansas State (56.23) 13
14. Miami, Fla. (52.40) 15
15. Penn State (52.24) 20
16. Michigan (47.74) 10
17. Indiana (47.11) 41
18. Stanford (43.69) 28
19. Villanova (38.07) 40
20. Furman (37.35) 55
21. Arizona (34.23) 35
22. Colorado (34.13) 32
23. Purdue (33.98) 16
24. Illinois (30.96) 31
25. Mississippi State (29.26) 52