BATON ROUGE – The LSU Track & Field teams will certainly make the Bernie Moore Track Stadium their home during the month of April as they are ready to host the USC Trojans, Penn State Nittany Lions and Purdue Boilermakers in their first of three meets this month at the seventh-annual Battle on the Bayou on Saturday.
While early field events are scheduled to get underway at 9:30 a.m. CDT, the this year’s meet kicks into high gear at 11:30 a.m. as the 4×100-meter relays jump start an exciting slate of events on the track. A condensed meet schedule will run through the men’s 4×400-meter relay at 2:25 p.m.
Saturday is “Kids Day” at the Bernie Moore Track Stadium as kids can be an Olympian for a day by running races and receiving medals. Inflatables will also be set up for kids attending the meet to enjoy.
Delta Timing will provide live results from the meet as fans can follow the Tigers and Lady Tigers in action on the day at http://results.deltatiming.com/lsu. Fans can also receive live updates 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.
Saturday is Kids Day at #LSU’s Battle On The Bayou! Early field events begin at 9:30 p.m. CT with the meet fully underway at 11:30 a.m. pic.twitter.com/qsM5PSHFo3
— LSUTrackField (@LSUTrackField) April 7, 2017
National Rankings
As expected, LSU’s teams are the top-ranked teams in the field at the seventh-annual Battle on the Bayou as the Lady Tigers are up one spot to No. 3 and the Tigers check in at No. 7 in the latest national power ranking released Monday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Associations.
USC also features two of the nation’s top-10 teams as the Women of Troy are ranked No. 6 nationally and the Trojans are ranked No. 10 nationally in this week’s USTFCCCA power ranking. Purdue is rated No. 21 on the women’s side and No. 46 on the men’s side, while Penn State arrives in Baton Rouge ranked No. 32 on the men’s side and No. 44 on the women’s side.
Scoring Format
Saturday’s Battle on the Bayou will feature a dual-meet scoring format as each of the four teams in the field will be scored head-to-head with each team finishing the day with three dual-meet scores. Individual events will be scored using a 5-3-2-1 format with the top two finishers from each team factoring in the scoring, while relays will be scored with a 5-3 format with just one relay allowed to score for each team.
All-Americans In Action
LSU’s defending NCAA Champion 4×100-meter relay teams are sure to be a featured attraction Saturday as both are coming off impressive performances at the 90th Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays last weekend.
The Tigers were crowned Texas Relays Champions in the Clyde Littlefield Men’s 4×100-Meter Relay while junior Tinashe Mutanga, senior Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake, senior Tremayne Acy and sophomore Jaron Flournoy teamed to run a seasonal-best time of 38.97 seconds in the final. Their seasonal best ranks No. 3 in the NCAA this week trailing only Florida (38.73) and Western Kentucky (38.91).
The Lady Tigers also had the third-fastest time nationally in their runner-up finish in the women’s final at the Texas Relays as junior Mikiah Brisco, sophomore Kortnei Johnson, senior Jada Martin and junior Aleia Hobbs crossed the finish line with a seasonal-best time of their own at 42.86 last Saturday afternoon.
While kicking off Saturday’s events on the 4×100-meter relay, Acy (200 meters), Brisco (200 meters), Flournoy (400 meters), Hobbs (100 meters), Johnson (200 meters) and Martin (400 meters) are all slated to line up in individual events at the Battle on the Bayou.
Other LSU All-Americans in action will be seniors LaMar Bruton (200 meters), Michael Cherry (200 meters), Nataliyah Friar (long jump), Rushell Harvey (100 meters, 200 meters), Blair Henderson (1,500 meters), Johnnie Jackson (hammer), Travia Jones (400 meters) and Morgan Schuetz (800 meters); as well as junior Kymber Payne (400 meters), sophomore Rachel Misher (400 meters) and freshman Ruby Stauber (1,500 meters).
Up Next
After hosting USC, Purdue and Penn State in their home opener on Saturday, LSU’s teams will spend their Spring Break in Walnut, California, where they will compete at the Mt. SAC Relays running April 13-15. They will then return to the Bernie Moore Track Stadium to play host to two more meets with their annual LSU Alumni Gold meet on April 22 followed by the SEC Relays on April 28-29.