BATON ROUGE – Following a successful trip to Greensboro, N.C., this past weekend for the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds, the Tigers and Lady Tigers will take top-four national rankings to Eugene, Ore., next week for the finals of the 2010 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
LSU will have 32 scoring opportunities between the two teams at the national meet, including 17 chances to score for the women and 15 chances to score for the men.
The semifinal round of the NCAA Championships will include the top 24 finishers in each event from the NCAA Preliminary Rounds held this past weekend. That includes the top 12 finishers at the East site held in Greensboro, N.C., and the top 12 finishers at the West site held in Austin, Texas.
LSU was among the most successful programs in the preliminary rounds on both the men’s and women’s sides as the Lady Tigers tied for the second-most qualifiers with 17 and the Tigers finished with the third-most qualifiers with 15 in the NCAA Preliminary Rounds.
A deeper look inside the numbers shows that the Lady Tigers actually advanced the highest percentage of athletes into the national semifinals among the squad competing at the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds.
The Lady Tigers advanced 17 of 25 preliminary round qualifiers to Eugene to the tune of 68 percent. That number exceeds the 67 percent qualification of both No. 1-ranked Texas A&M and No. 2-ranked Oregon.
The semifinal and final rounds of the 2010 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships will be held June 9-12 at Hayward Field on the campus of the University of Oregon in Eugene. Fans can view all the behind-the-scenes coverage of the Tigers and Lady Tigers competing at this year’s NCAA meet by following @LSUTrackField on Twitter and becoming a fan of LSU Track & Field on Facebook.
USTFCCCA Top 25
WOMEN
Team (Points) Last Week
1. Texas A&M (354.36) 2
2. Oregon (343.79) 1
3. LSU (312.35) 3
4. Florida State (178.66) 11
5. Penn State (175.22) 10
6. Oklahoma (171.65) 4
7. Florida (167.72) 7
8. Clemson (162.18) 6
9. Arkansas (157.85) 9
10. Virginia Tech (144.31) 5
11. Auburn (143.48) 8
12. UTEP (139.86) 13
13. Miami, Fla. (134.10) 12
14. Texas Tech (131.46) 18
15. Arizona (126.60) 15
16. Southern Illinois (116.04) 26
17. Texas (112.80) 21
18. BYU (110.50) 16
19. Iowa State (107.57) 25
20. Tennessee (105.22) 33
21. Southern California (95.19) 14
22. Kansas (93.00) 23
23. Indiana (92.82) 19
24. Illinois (88.70) 22
25. North Carolina (84.83) 27
MEN
Team (Points) Last Week
1. Texas A&M (322.96) 3
2. Florida (321.48) 1
3. Oregon (297.00) 2
4. LSU (247.54) 5
5. Texas Tech (195.40) 7
6. Arizona State (195.00) 6
7. Southern California (190.61) 4
8. Florida State (177.00) 8
9. Mississippi State (164.03) 13
10. Stanford (161.49) 12
11. Oklahoma (140.81) 14
12. South Carolina (135.87) 10
13. BYU (128.11) 11
14. Auburn (127.76) 9
15. Virginia Tech (126.76) 17
16. Nebraska (124.51) 19
17. Kansas (121.19) 21
18. Washington (114.80) 20
19. Ole Miss (112.95) 16
20. Georgia (93.07) 15
21. Texas (88.63) 33
22. Penn State (88.10) 24
23. Baylor (82.04) 18
24. Kentucky (80.89) 32
25. Missouri (75.21) 35