BATON ROUGE – The LSU Track & Field teams have each moved up one spot in the national rankings in the wake of the 2014 SEC Outdoor Track & Field Championships as the Lady Tigers are ranked No. 6 nationally and the Tigers are ranked No. 8 nationally in the latest U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Top 25 power rankings.
Next up for the squads will be a trip to Jacksonville, Florida, to compete at the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds that will run May 29-31 at Hodges Stadium at the University of North Florida.
The Top 12 finishers in each event at the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds will earn the right to compete in the semifinal and final rounds of the 2014 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships that will be held from June 11-14 at historic Hayward Field at the University of Oregon in Eugene.
The Tigers solidified themselves as NCAA Championship contenders in two events with their performance at the SEC Outdoor Championships this past weekend, as junior Vernon Norwood emerged as the NCAA’s No. 3-ranked 400-meter runner this season and the Tigers’ smashed their seasonal best in the 4×100-meter relay by nearly two tenths of a second in a pair of silver-medal-winning All-SEC finishes.
Norwood dropped his outdoor personal best by nearly a half second in a runner-up finish in the men’s 400-meter final with a run of 45.17 seconds for the third-fastest time in the NCAA this season. LSU’s sprint relay of sophomore Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake, junior Aaron Ernest, freshman Tremayne Acy and senior Shermund Allsop also clocked a seasonal best of 38.68 in a runner-up finish in the men’s 4×100-meter relay as they beat a national-leading team from Florida in the SEC final.
The Lady Tigers moved up one spot in the national rankings thanks to a trio of Top 10 performances in the NCAA this season in Sunday’s finale at the SEC Outdoor Championships held in Lexington, Kentucky.
Senior Nikita Tracey cracked the Top 5 nationally as the NCAA’s No. 5-ranked 400-meter hurdler with her seasonal-best time of 56.23 for fourth place in the SEC final, while junior teammate Chanice Chase trailed in fifth place in the race with a personal-best time of 56.27 that moved her into the No. 6 spot in the national rankings this spring.
Senior Lynnika Pitts also turned in a personal-best performance of her own while winning the SEC Outdoor bronze medal in the women’s triple jump on Sunday afternoon as she soared 43 feet, 4 ½ inches to emerge as the NCAA’s No. 8-ranked triple jumper for the 2014 outdoor season.
USTFCCCA Top 25 (as of May 20, 2014)
MEN
Team (Points) Last Week
1. Florida (360.56) 1
2. Texas A&M (278.77) 2
3. Oregon (278.66) 3
4. Arkansas (240.31) 4
5. Texas Tech (171.18) 6
6. Georgia (168.86) 7
7. Texas (165.96) 10
8. LSU (164.63) 9
9. Oklahoma State (155.39) 5
10. BYU (150.51) 8
11. Alabama (142.29) 11
12. Baylor (136.85) 13
13. Ole Miss (129.89) 18
14. Wisconsin (128.67) 14
15. Southern California (119.72) 15
16. Penn State (106.02) 17
17. Illinois (104.30) 20
18. Kentucky (97.52) 19
19. Tennessee (95.80) 21
20. UCLA (92.93) 12
21. Nebraska (92.83) 16
22. Arizona (86.25) 36
23. Stanford (85.13) 22
24. Auburn (76.83) 34
25. New Mexico (76.38) 23
WOMEN
Team (Points) Last Week
1. Texas (382.88) 2
2. Florida (346.45) 1
3. Oregon (329.97) 3
4. Texas A&M (310.31) 4
5. Kentucky (259.60) 6
6. LSU (207.33) 7
7. Georgia (202.59) 5
8. Arkansas (202.44) 8
9. Southern California (164.76) 11
10. Florida State (146.50) 9
11. Stanford (145.99) 10
12. Baylor (115.64) 14
13. Kansas (113.21) 16
14. Texas Tech (109.31) 27
15. Arizona (104.89) 12
16. Penn State (100.24) 15
17. Missouri (96.65) 13
18. Michigan (96.22) 13
19. San Diego State (89.14) 18
20. Arizona State (83.02) 17
21. Boise State (81.26) 29
22. Kansas State (75.63) 21
23. NC State (74.41) 22
24. Kent State (74.21) 25
25. Nebraska (72.35) 28