BATON ROUGE – LSU Track & Field athletes have one final opportunity to prepare for the start of the championship season next week when they play host to their annual LSU Twilight at the Carl Maddox Field House on Friday afternoon with selected athletes also competing at Notre Dame’s Alex Wilson Invitational on Saturday.
The LSU Twilight kicks off at 2:30 p.m. with the first field events of the day followed by the first preliminary races on the track at 3:30 p.m. Events will run through the men’s 4×400-meter relay that wraps up the meet at 6:30 p.m. as Delta Timing provides live results at http://results.deltatiming.com/lsu.
Athletes competing at the Alex Wilson Invitational on Saturday will first take to the track in the women’s distance medley relay at 10:45 a.m. CT with events running through the men’s 200 meters at 1:50 p.m.
This weekend provides LSU’s athletes a tune up for the start of the championship season next week as they return to the Vanderbilt Multipurpose Facility in Nashville for the second time this season to compete at the Southeastern Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships running Feb. 24-25. The 2017 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships follow March 10-11 in College Station, Texas.
Movin’ On Up
Friday’s LSU Twilight meet provides a host of athletes the opportunity to move into the Top 16 spots in the national rankings in their respective events as 11 Tigers and Lady Tigers ranking among the NCAA’s Top 50 will be in action at the Carl Maddox Field House. The Top 16 athletes in each individual event and Top 12 relay teams in the 4×400 and distance medley relays that declare following conference championship weekend next week will qualify for the NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships next month.
Seniors Tremayne Acy and Keane Bland are among the Tigers looking to improve their stock as Acy is currently tied for No. 30 nationally in the 60-meter dash with a top time this season of 6.69 and Bland owns a best of 7.89 in the 60-meter hurdles to tie for No. 34 in the country in the event.
Freshman Rayvon Grey has jumped 24 feet, 11 ¼ inches in the long jump to tie for No. 24 on the national list, while fellow freshman Christian Miller checks in at No. 25 in the triple jump with a best of 51-4 ½.
Sophomore Jordan McClendon headlines a group of Lady Tigers looking to move into the Top 16 of the national rankings in their event as she threw a personal best of 66-5 ¼ at the Bayou Bengal Invitational two weeks ago that currently stands as the No. 18 mark in NCAA Division I. The current cutoff for the Top 16 in the event is 66-8 ¾ heading into the weekend.
Ranking No. 22 nationally entering Friday’s LSU Twilight is freshman Tonea Marshall with a seasonal-best time of 8.23 in the 60-meter hurdles, while fellow freshman Brittley Humphrey is tied for the No. 43 spot in their event with a best this season of 8.34. Senior Mikiah Brisco, who is the NCAA’s No. 2-ranked hurdler this season with a lifetime best of 7.98, has the weekend off ahead of the SEC Indoor meet.
Freshman Nickolette Dunbar ranks No. 30 in the shot put with a mark of 52-6 ½, while freshman Cassondra Hall is tied for No. 31 in the 60 meters with a time of 7.35, senior Nataliyah Friar has jumped 20-2 ½ to rank No. 32 in the long jump and senior Rushell Harvey is tied for No. 42 nationally in the 60 meters with her best time of 7.39 in 2017.
Other athletes highlighting the competition include senior Johnnie Jackson as the NCAA leader in the men’s weight throw with a best this season of 77-3 ¾, as well as junior Aleia Hobbs with the seventh-fastest time in the country at 7.25 and senior Jada Martin with the 14th-ranked time at 7.29 both in the 60 meters.
All About The DMRs
Eight athletes will travel to South Bend, Indiana, for the Alex Wilson Invitational on Saturday as the Tigers and Lady Tigers both work to position themselves for NCAA Championships qualification in the distance medley relay. The meet held at Notre Dame’s Loftus Sports Center produced five men’s teams and four women’s teams that qualified for the NCAA meet a year ago.
The Lady Tigers were among those running a qualifying time at the Alex Wilson Invitational last season as they set LSU’s indoor school record of 11 minutes, 5.34 seconds to grab the 12th and final NCAA qualifying place. The Tigers nearly set their own school record at last year’s meet with a seasonal best of 9:35.90 to rank No. 25 among men’s DMRs in 2016.
The DMR features legs of 1,200 meters, 400 meters, 800 meters and the mile as the Top 12 teams in the NCAA rankings following next week’s conference championships will qualify for the NCAA meet.
Expected lineups for both of LSU’s teams Saturday include senior Blair Henderson, sophomore Jaron Flournoy, junior Jack Wilkes and sophomore Dajour Braxton for the men, and freshman Ruby Stauber, senior Travia Jones, sophomore Hollie Parker and senior Morgan Schuetz for the women. The women’s race will kick off the day’s action for LSU at 10:45 a.m. CT followed by the men’s DMR at 11 a.m.
Later in the meet, Flournoy will run the 200 meters, Jones will run the 400 meters, Braxton and Wilkes will both run the 800 meters and Henderson, Parker and Schuetz will run the mile to close out the weekend.
Up Next
After hosting the LSU Twilight and competing at the Alex Wilson Invitational this week, LSU’s teams return to the Vanderbilt Multipurpose Facility in Nashville next week to compete at the 2017 SEC Indoor Track & Field Championships running Feb. 24-25. It marks their second trip to Vanderbilt this season after already competing at the Commodore Invitational on Jan. 13-14 on the second weekend of the season.