BATON ROUGE — LSU’s track and field team returns to action this Thursday through Saturday when it travels to historic Franklin Field in Philadelphia, Pa., for the 111th annual Penn Relays.
The Tigers and Lady Tigers will compete against the county’s elite as over 200 colleges and universities will comprise the field, one that includes 16 teams ranked among this week’s top 25.
With the meet’s emphasis placed primarily on the relay and field events the nationally ranked Tiger squad should once again be a major factor in the weekend’s competition.
“The men are doing a good job this year,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “We’ve been using different people in the relay events and we keep finding a way to win. They just need to continue to get things done.”
The Tigers enter the meet with the nation’s top-ranked 4×100-meter relay team and a 4×400 relay squad that is listed at No. 2 in the country.
Headlining both those relays are Olympians Bennie Brazell and Kelly Willie as well as freshman standout Xavier Carter. Likely rounding out the 4×100 team will be Marvin Stevenson or Richard Thompson, while Reginald Dardar should complete the 4×400 lineup.
On the women’s side, LSU, for the first time in many years, will be relying on a pool of freshmen to carry on its strong relay tradition at this meet.
“Not one woman we are taking to this meet has been to Penn before,” said Shaver. “The atmosphere at the meet is like the pressure at the NCAA Championships amplified by 10. We figure if they can go into that kind of hostile environment and improve on their times it will be a success.”
A year ago, the Lady Tigers’ won the 4×100, 4×200 and shuttle hurdle relays and earned runner-up honors in both the 4×400 and sprint medley relays behind a dominating senior class that included Olympians Muna Lee, Hazelann Regis and Nadia Davy as well as sprint standouts Stephanie Durst, Lolo Jones and Monique Hall.
This season, the women’s squad will look to freshmen Kelly Baptiste, Ashley Owens, Brooklyn Morris and Deonna Lawrence, among others, to help carry on the tradition.