BATON ROUGE – With a combined 19 entries heading to the NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships this weekend, the Lady Tigers find themselves in the trophy mix as the No. 4-ranked women’s team and the Tigers slot in as the No. 12-ranked men’s team in the national rankings ahead of the championship.
The Lady Tigers held their position while the Tigers are up a spot as the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association released its final men’s and women’s power rankings on Monday.
The Tigers climbed the team trophy podium at the NCAA Indoor Championships a year ago when they scored 28 points to finish fourth nationally at the Birmingham Crossplex in Birmingham, Alabama. They have taken home a top-10 finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships in eight of the last nine seasons.
The Lady Tigers tied for 14th place in the final women’s team standings a year ago while scoring 15 points as they have finished in the Top 10 nationally in 13 of the last 15 seasons since the 2002 campaign.
LSU’s teams will no doubt finish among the NCAA’s best once again as the Tigers will be represented by six qualifiers and the Lady Tigers will feature one of the largest contingents in the event with 13 qualifiers for the championship. In fact, LSU’s women have qualified their most entries into the NCAA Indoor Championships in six years when they last featured 14 scoring opportunities in 2011.
The Tigers will arrive at the Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium next week with their share of firepower as they feature an NCAA leader, three top-10 ranked performers nationally and the defending NCAA Indoor Champions in the 4×400-meter relay that are poised to contend for top honors once again at the national meet.
LSU’s women are lead into NCAA competition by three newly-crowned SEC Indoor Champions and five entries ranking among the Top 5 nationally as they boast their largest indoor representation in six seasons.
USTFCCCA Top 25 (as of March 6)
MEN
Team (Points) Last Week
1. Florida (167.95) 1
2. Arkansas (121.23) 2
3. Oregon (113.78) 3
4. Georgia (91.41) 5
5. Texas A&M (87.19) 4
6. Alabama (83.12) 6
7. Virginia Tech (81.36) 7
8. Colorado State (74.62) 12
9. Colorado (68.21) 8
10. Texas (66.54) 9
11. Kansas (62.44) 11
12. LSU (61.34) 13
13. Southern California (61.04) 10
14. UTEP (57.24) 17
15. Indiana (56.81) 14
16. Iowa (56.40) 15
17. Houston (52.15) 16
18. Virginia (50.32) 18
19. Tennessee (50.18) 19
20. Washington (48.11) 20
21. Michigan (46.71) 21
22. Southern Illinois (46.01) 22
23. Oklahoma State (42.22) 25
24. Syracuse (40.49) 23
25. Auburn (39.06) 27
WOMEN
Team (Points) Last Week
1. Oregon (239.65) 1
2. Arkansas (169.57) 3
3. Georgia (165.74) 2
4. LSU (132.22) 4
5. Kentucky (101.84) 5
6. Southern California (81.63) 6
7. Alabama (81.19) 7
8. Ole Miss (72.94) 9
9. Texas (68.91) 8
10. Texas A&M (64.94) 11
11. Florida (64.11) 12
12. Miami, Fla. (63.12) 10
13. Kansas State (58.36) 13
14. Purdue (56.31) 15
15. Baylor (54.53) 16
16. Penn State (53.01) 17
17. BYU (43.64) 19
18. Iowa State (41.05) 20
19. Indiana (35.86) 14
20. Colorado (35.75) 18
21. Michigan (35.32) 21
22. Stanford (33.48) 22
23. Furman (33.34) 24
24. Villanova (33.23) 23
25. San Diego State (29.56) 27