BATON ROUGE – As the LSU Track & Field teams now look toward the championship season, they will head into the postseason ranked among the Top 10 teams in the country as the Lady Tigers remain at No. 7 and the Tigers are up to No. 9 in this week’s Top 25 power ranking released Tuesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
Track & Field News also released its final Collegiate Dual Meet Top 25 Rankings on Tuesday with the Lady Tigers checking in at No. 5 and the Tigers coming in at No. 16 in the final poll of the 2014 campaign.
LSU’s national rankings have been buoyed this week by the performance of senior Denise Hinton and junior Aaron Ernest, who each turned in the NCAA’s No. 2-ranked performance in their respective events over the weekend in their regular-season finale at the LSU Invitational while earning SEC Athlete of the Week honors on Tuesday.
Hinton was named the SEC Women’s Field Athlete of the Week for the second time this outdoor season after smashing her own school record in the women’s hammer throw with a winning throw of 218 feet, 0 inches on Senior Day in her final appearance at the Bernie Moore Track Stadium. Hinton is also the SEC’s leading performer by more than 10 feet as she looks toward the SEC Championships next weekend.
Ernest is this week’s SEC Men’s Runner of the Week as he nearly set a school record of his own as he sprinted to a new wind-legal personal best of 20.14 seconds to win the men’s 200-meter dash on Saturday, cracking the NCAA rankings in the No. 2 spot and the World rankings in the No. 3 spot following his first 200-meter race of the 2014 outdoor season.
The Lady Tigers also feature firepower in the hurdle events as they remain as the No. 7-ranked team nationally as seniors Jasmin Stowers and Nikita Tracey both rank in the Top 5 nationally in their respective events.
Stowers is the NCAA’s No. 3-ranked performer under all conditions in the 100-meter hurdles heading into the championship season after hurdling to a wind-legal personal best of 12.81 at the LSU Alumni Gold only two weeks ago. Tracey is the No. 5-ranked 400-meter hurdler nationally at this point of the season with a seasonal-best time of 56.80 to her credit in 2014.
Along with Ernest, the Tigers are also led by national championship contender Rodney Brown as the junior from Chappell Hill, Texas, is the NCAA’s No. 4-ranked discus thrower this season with a school-record throw of 210-10 while also setting a meet record at the 120th Penn Relays on April 26. Brown is the defending SEC Champion in the men’s discus throw as he looks to retain his title next weekend.
Both of the Tigers’ relay teams rank No. 3 nationally heading into the championship season with top times this year of 38.83 in the 4×100-meter relay and 3 minutes, 2.81 seconds in the 4×400-meter relay in 2014.
With the 2014 regular season now in the record books, the Tigers and Lady Tigers will take two weeks to prepare for the start of the championship season as they will next compete during the 2014 SEC Outdoor Track & Field Championships running from May 15-18 at the Kentucky Outdoor Track & Field Facility in Lexington, Ky.
USTFCCCA Top 25 (as of May 6)
Men
Team (Points) Last Week
1. Florida (328.42) 1
2. Texas A&M (276.34) 2
3. Arkansas (237.38) 3
4. Oregon (204.08) 4
5. Texas Tech (173.37) 9
6. Georgia (162.56) 5
7. Oklahoma State (161.80) 17
8. Texas (159.85) 7
9. LSU (156.61) 10
10. Alabama (153.49) 8
11. BYU (152.89) 6
12. UCLA (134.95) 13
13. Baylor (133.95) 15
14. Southern California (128.46) 12
15. Wisconsin (125.96) 18
16. Nebraska (117.80) 11
17. Penn State (117.14) 19
18. Kentucky (113.42) 21
19. Ole Miss (112.18) 16
20. Illinois (104.49) 14
21. Tennessee (91.36) 26
22. Stanford (89.50) 107
23. New Mexico (85.37) 30
24. Pittsburgh (80.56) 20
25. Arizona (63.15) 44
Women
Team (Points) Last Week
1. Florida (380.68) 2
2. Texas (368.13) 1
3. Oregon (301.38) 4
4. Texas A&M (289.43) 3
5. Kentucky (223.70) 6
6. Georgia (218.29) 5
7. LSU (215.47) 7
8. Arkansas (198.78) 9
9. Stanford (169.51) 24
10. Southern California (162.73) 8
11. Florida State (157.43) 10
12. Arizona (131.97) 11
13. Baylor (107.55) 15
14. Missouri (104.60) 13
15. Kansas (97.57) 17
16. Arizona State (97.21) 23
17. San Diego State (95.15) 14
18. Mississippi State (92.55) 12
19. Penn State (89.44) 18
20. Virginia Tech (86.06) 16
21. Texas Tech (80.91) 25
22. Colorado (80.81) 37
23. NC State (78.12) 19
24. Michigan (74.99) 20
25. Nebraska (73.05) 32
Track & Field News Final Collegiate Dual Meet Rankings (as of May 6)
Men
Team (2014 Dual Meet Record)
1. California (9-0)
2. Texas A&M (2-0)
3. Arkansas (3-0)
4. Oregon (1-0)
5. Arizona State (2-0)
6. Washington (1-0)
7. Washington State (1-1)
8. UCLA (2-1)
9. Long Beach State (9-0)
10. BYU (1-1)
11. Purdue (5-1)
12. Wisconsin (1-0)
13. Nebraska (3-0)
14. Navy (3-0)
15. Princeton (4-1-1)
16. LSU (1-1)
17. Akron (5-0)
18. Texas (0-1)
19. Texas Tech (0-2)
20. Arizona (1-2)
21. Colorado State (4-0)
22. Eastern Michigan (4-0)
23. Wichita State (6-3)
24. Kent State (2-2)
25. Indiana State (6-1)
Women
Team (2014 Dual Meet Ranking)
1. Oregon (1-0)
2. Texas A&M (2-0)
3. Arkansas (3-0)
4. Arizona (2-1)
5. LSU (1-1)
6. Southern California (1-0)
7. Arizona State (1-1)
8. Washington State (2-0)
9. UCLA (2-0)
10. Purdue (4-1)
11. UC-Davis (4-0)
12. Michigan (2-0)
13. Texas (0-1)
14. Virginia (1-1)
15. Texas Tech (0-2)
16. Notre Dame (3-0)
17. California (5-4)
18. Akron (4-1)
19. Harvard (3-0)
20. Indiana State (5-2)
21. Long Beach State (9-0)
22. Nebraska (3-0)
23. Washington (0-1)
24. Minnesota (3-0)
25. South Carolina (3-0)