BATON ROUGE – LSU Track & Field is the only program in the country with both its men’s and women’s teams ranked among the Top 5 nationally with Tuesday’s release of the first U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Top 25 featuring only results from the 2012 outdoor season.
The Lady Tigers are ranked No. 2 nationally as they trail only No. 1-ranked Clemson in Tuesday’s release of the latest USTFCCCA Top 25 power ranking. Rounding out the NCAA’s Top 5 on the women’s side is No. 3 Texas, No. 4 Florida and No. 5 Oregon in the USTFCCCA rankings.
The Tigers are up one spot this week to No. 4 in the men’s national power ranking as they follow new No. 1 Texas A&M, No. 2 Florida and No. 3 Arizona State. Florida State rounds out the Top 5 at No. 5.
Juniors Kimberlyn Duncan and Charlene Lipsey provide the firepower for the Lady Tigers, along with the 4×100 and 4×400 relays as each ranks either No. 1 or No. 2 in the NCAA rankings for 2012.
Duncan, the reigning NCAA Outdoor champion in the 200-meter dash, has emerged as a true contender to take home her first career NCAA title in the 100-meter dash as she is the No. 1-ranked performer in the event nationally with her seasonal best wind-aided time of 10.94 and wind-legal time of 11.05. She hasn’t tasted defeat so far this season while winning three-straight 100-meter titles on the campaign.
Duncan opened her outdoor season by winning the event crown at the Texas Relays with a career-best run of 10.94 wind-aided. She is coming off a record-setting performance at the LSU Alumni Gold meet where she became the 2012 world leader with her wind-legal personal best of 11.05.
By running 11.05, Duncan broke the 18-year-old Bernie Moore Stadium record of 11.07 previously set by former Lady Tiger national champion Cheryl Taplin back in 1994.
Duncan has also anchored the Lady Tigers to the NCAA’s No. 1-ranked time in the 4×100-meter relay for the season as she has teamed with sophomore Takeia Pinckney, senior Semoy Hackett and senior Rebecca Alexander to run a seasonal-best time of 42.99 in winning the Texas Relays title back on March 31.
Lipsey has proven herself as a national title contender in the 800-meter run in 2012 as she is unbeaten in a pair of half-mile races on the campaign. She opened her outdoor season on April 7 by recording a PR of 2 minutes, 2.91 seconds at the “Battle on the Bayou” for the NCAA’s No. 2-ranked time this spring.
The Lady Tigers also feature the country’s No. 2 4×400-meter relay squad as Alexander, senior Cassandra Tate, junior Siedda Herbert and senior Jonique Day have run a best of 3:30.42 in 2012.
Defending NCAA 110-meter hurdles champion Barrett Nugent continues to set the pace for the Tigers for the 2012 outdoor season as he is currently the NCAA’s No. 3-ranked hurdler under all conditions with his seasonal-best wind-aided time of 13.37 from his season opener at the Texas Relays.
The Tigers and Lady Tigers are preparing for their 2012 regular season finale this weekend as they are set to make their annual trip to Philadelphia, Pa., for the 118th running of the Penn Relays Carnival being held at historic Franklin Field at the University of Pennsylvania. The four-day meet is set to begin Wednesday, and will run through the “USA vs. The World” events on Saturday afternoon.
USTFCCCA Top 25 (April 24, 2012)
WOMEN
Team (Points) Last Week
1. Clemson (311.66) 3
2. LSU (269.85) 2
3. Texas (262.96) 8
4. Florida (223.37) 7
5. Oregon (221.52) 1
6. Texas A&M (205.14) 5
7. Kansas (204.18) 11
8. Arizona (181.31) 13
9. Arkansas (176.52) 6
10. Arizona State (165.34) 16
11. Texas Tech (158.70) 10
12. Illinois State (127.78) 25
13. Florida State (127.00) 22
14. Tennessee (120.56) 18
15. Oklahoma (119.89) 9
16. Louisville (118.37) 27
17. Georgia (118.31) 14
18. Central Florida (113.93) 12
19. Baylor (106.89) 15
20. Stanford (103.25) 20
21. Southern Illinois (97.23) 23
22. Ohio State (97.03) 31
23. Kansas State (96.11) 17
24. Southern California (91.26) 4
25. Iowa State (89.53) 26
MEN
Team (Points) Last Week
1. Texas A&M (274.93) 4
2. Florida (260.51) 1
3. Arizona State (218.51) 8
4. LSU (200.88) 5
5. Florida State (192.06) 2
6. Southern California (188.20) 11
7. Indiana (183.11) 9
8. Mississippi State (182.36) 10
9. Texas Tech (176.59) 3
10. Texas (174.83) 7
11. Ole Miss (170.93) 12
12. Oklahoma (165.26) 21
13. Arizona (157.26) 14
14. Arkansas (155.26) 6
15. Auburn (152.44) 19
16. Nebraska (145.22) 15
17. Virginia Tech (137.69) 22
18. Stanford (124.90) 17
19. Georgia (121.56) 16
20. Iowa (120.98) 18
21. Wisconsin (105.40) 25
22. Oregon (98.11) 13
23. Virginia (93.31) 71
24. Princeton (92.32) 23
25. Kansas (90.01) 26