LSU Gold

Track & Field To Host Alumni Gold Meet

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Track & Field To Host Alumni Gold Meet

BATON ROUGE – Fans are treated to the very best the LSU Track & Field program has to offer on LSU Alumni Gold weekend each year, and Saturday will be no different as 16 NCAA Champions, 36 All-Americans and two World Championship medalists past and present will be on show throughout the day at the Bernie Moore Track Stadium.

The afternoon session at this year’s LSU Alumni Gold meet is set to begin at 1:20 p.m. CT following an opening ceremony at 1:15 p.m. and runs through the 4×400-meter relays at 4:20 p.m. A recognition of the alumni in attendance is scheduled for 3:20 p.m. during the running of the women’s 5,000 meters.

The morning session at the LSU Alumni Gold starts bright and early with the start of the “B” section finals on the track at 8:30 a.m. CT followed by the first field events of the competition beginning at 9 a.m.

Admission is free to the Bernie Moore Track Stadium for Saturday’s meet as fans are invited to take part in a post-meet autograph session with the 2016 men’s and women’s teams following the final event. The alumni and Olympians of LSU’s past attending the meet will also sign autographs beginning at approximately 3:30 p.m. as LSU Track & Field autograph cards are available for fans at the meet.

At each home meet this outdoor season, fans also have the opportunity to enter their names for a chance to win a $500 Academy Sports & Outdoors gift card that will be awarded at the LSU Invitational on April 30.

“Those coming out to the meet on Saturday are in for a real treat with the kind of competition we’ve got lined up,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “We’re expecting some great weather throughout the day, so it’s a chance for people to come out and watch some of the best teams in the country and best athletes in the world compete. Some great performances are going to come out of this meet.”

LSU features two of the top-five teams in the country this week with the Lady Tigers ranking No. 4 and the Tigers ranking No. 5 in this week’s Top 25 power rankings released by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association on Monday. Other combined programs from major conferences headlining the meet will be Texas (No. 4 men, No. 7 women), Tennessee (No. 24 men, No. 16 women), Mississippi State (unranked men, No. 11 women), Arizona (unranked men, No. 23 women), Clemson and Iowa State.

Rounding out the collegiate field for the LSU Alumni Gold event on Saturday are Akron, Connecticut, Hinds Community College, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, Louisiana Tech, Maine, McNeese State, Meridian Community College, New Orleans, Northwestern State, Southeastern Louisiana, Southern Mississippi, Texas A&M-Kingsville and Tulane.

Delta Timing will provide live results from the event as fans can follow all the action online at http://deltatiming.com. Fans can also receive live updates of the Tigers and Lady Tigers competing on Saturday afternoon by following @LSUTrackField on Twitter at http://twitter.com/lsutrackfield and Instagram at http://instagram.com/lsutrackfield and by liking LSU Track & Field on Facebook at http://facebook.com/lsutrackfield.

The LSU Alumni Gold attracts a world-class field year in and year out, and this year’s meet is no exception as many elite college and professional athletes will headline the action throughout the day.

The men’s and women’s 400-meter dashes are sure to highlight the afternoon with world-class athletes at the professional and collegiate levels competing with an eye on the Olympic Games later this summer.

Headlining the men’s 400-meter dash are former Tiger standout Vernon Norwood, the 2015 NCAA Indoor and NCAA Outdoor Champion, Texas’ 2016 NCAA Indoor Champion Zack Bilderback, Tennessee’s NCAA Indoor Silver Medalist Nathan Strother, LSU’s NCAA Indoor Bronze Medalist Michael Cherry and LSU’s NCAA Indoor finalist Fitzroy Dunkley. Other All-American hopefuls lining up in the event on Saturday will be Texas’ Aldrich Bailey, Jr., Mississippi State’s Alfred Larry and LSU’s NCAA Champion relay runners LaMar Bruton and Cyril Grayson.

Former Lady Tiger national champion Cassandra Tate, the 2015 World Championship Bronze Medalist in the 400-meter hurdles, is among those competing in the women’s 400-meter dash along with fellow professional intermediate hurdler Georganne Moline at the LSU Alumni Gold. Junior Travia Jones is the top Lady Tiger in the field with a personal best of 53.36 seconds already run this season.

The Texas Longhorns will even line up two of the NCAA’s best in the event with reigning NCAA Indoor Champion and collegiate indoor record holder Courtney Okolo and NCAA Indoor Bronze Medalist Chrisann Gordon both opening up their outdoor seasons in the event on Saturday afternoon.

Many Tigers and Lady Tigers will open up in their primary events for the first time this season during the meet, led by LSU’s NCAA Indoor Silver Medalist Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake in the men’s 200-meter dash.

Among LSU’s All-Americans on the heat sheet to compete at the LSU Alumni Gold include senior Chanice Chase (100 hurdles), junior Tremayne Acy (200 meters), junior Nataliyah Friar (long jump), junior Rushell Harvey (200 meters), junior Jada Martin (100 meters), junior Jordan Moore (110 hurdles), junior Rebekah Wales (javelin), sophomore Mikiah Brisco (100 meters, 100 hurdles), sophomore Daeshon Gordon (100 hurdles, 400 hurdles) and sophomore Aleia Hobbs (100 meters).

Other former Tigers competing include past NCAA Champions Shermund Allsop (100 meters), Quincy Downing (400 hurdles), Aaron Ernest (100 meters), Damar Forbes (long jump), Gabriel Mvumvure (100 meters, 200 meters) and Isa Phillips (400 hurdles); and past All-Americans Michael Lauro (hammer throw), Robert Simmons (400 meters) and Joshua Thompson (100 meters, 110 hurdles).

Kimberlyn Duncan headlines the former Lady Tiger NCAA Champions in the field at the LSU Alumni Gold as she will run the 100 meters and 200 meters as well as fellow national champions Marian Burnett (800 meters), Natoya Goule (800 meters) and LaTavia Thomas (800 meters). Also on display will be former All-Americans Keri Emanuel and Lynnika Pitts in the triple jump, Charlene Lipsey in the 800 meters and Jasmin Stowers in the 100-meter hurdles.

After playing host to this season’s LSU Alumni Gold on Saturday, the Tigers and Lady Tigers will finish off their regular season next weekend when they welcome such programs as Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Miami and Texas A&M to Baton Rouge for the second-annual LSU Invitational being held next Saturday, April 30, at the Bernie Moore Track Stadium.