BATON ROUGE — The No. 1 ranked LSU men’s track and field team and fifth-ranked Lady Tigers head to Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin for the 74th running of the Texas Relays this weekend. The relays run from Wednesday through Saturday, although no LSU athletes will compete until Thursday.
“It’s one of the marquis events in our sport,” said LSU head coach Pat Henry. “It’s an opportunity for the premier programs in the nation to join together and compete in front of more than 20,000 knowledgeable track and field fans. This meet creates the kind of environment and competition conducive to incredible performances and we hope to have our share this weekend.”
The Texas Relays put an emphasis on relays and loaded field events with limited individual events on the track. LSU once again brings some of the finest relays in the nation to Austin.
Without question, one of the most anticipated events will be the men’s 4×400-meter relay on Saturday. LSU and Baylor will renew the sport’s hottest relay rivalry after running a pair of classics, both won by the Tigers, in their last two meetings.
The Tigers edged Baylor for the NCAA Indoor title in the 4×400-meter relay last month in a race the produced the fastest time in the world during the indoor season. Last weekend the two met once again in Houston with LSU rallying for victory behind an incredible anchor leg from Alleyne Francique to break the LSU school record while posting an NCAA and world-leading time of 3:01.73.
The Texas Relays will also mark the first meeting between No. 1 LSU and No. 2 TCU since the Tigers edged the Horned Frogs for the NCAA Indoor title last month in improbable fashion. TCU will be the team to beat in the 4×100-meter relay, as they lead the nation by a substantial margin while the Tigers rank fifth.
The women’s relays figure to be particularly fast as well. LSU ranks second in the nation in the women’s 4×100-meter relay and with three new members on last year’s NCAA runner-up squad, the foursome has come together much quicker than anticipated. The Lady Tigers bring their NCAA auto time of 43.94 to Austin this weekend with hopes of unseating three-time defending champion Texas while claiming their first title in the event since 1996.
The Lady Tigers have not run their complete 4×400-meter relay unit but figure to this weekend amidst the tremendous field in the event. The Lady Tigers were sixth in the mile relay at the NCAA Indoor Championships last month.
Individually, NCAA Indoor triple jump champion Walter Davis will step up his workload this weekend. Davis headlines the field in both the triple and long jumps and will attempt to be LSU’s first ever Texas Relays triple jump champion.
Only a handful of LSU athletes begin on Thursday, as 2000 SEC runner-up Javier Nieto will compete in the hammer, while school record-holder Candice Gonzalez competes in the women’s hammer. On the track, the Tigers will compete in the men’s 4×800-meter relay, while the Lady Tigers will send Zamyal Jackson and Althea Thomas to the prelims of the 400-meter hurdles and Bridget Cusack to field in the women’s 10,000-meter run.
Friday will be the busiest day of competition for both squads, as relay and sprint prelims take place in the morning, while a majority of the field events will be competed on day two. The meet will conclude on Saturday with relay and sprint finals as well a handful of field events.