The LSU women’s track and field team will compete in 10 different events at the NCAA Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., this weekend in hopes of securing a national indoor title.
LSU will attempt to break a streak of three consecutive third-place finishes at the Indoor Championships, but the Lady Tigers will have to upend hosting Arkansas to win.
The Razorbacks defeated LSU to claim the Southeastern Conference Indoor Championship in late February and are the favorites to take the national title, as well. The Lady Tigers join Big-12 champion Kansas and three-time defending champion Oregon as the teams with the best opportunity to defeat the Razorbacks and fill the remaining podium positions.
“It’s going to be a hostile environment,” said LSU coach Dennis Shaver. “But I told them to just worry about the things you have control over and take care of business, and each event is going to build on the next for us.”
LSU will look to gain a large portion of its points from senior sprinter Kimberlyn Duncan, who is the only Lady Tiger to qualify for the Championships in two separate individual events.
Duncan will run the 200-meter sprint and 60-meter dash, as well as the second leg of the Lady Tigers’ 4 x 400-meter relay team.
As the two-time defending indoor champion and the holder of the world’s fastest time in the event this season at 22.54 seconds, Duncan is the heavy favorite to take gold in the 200. Duncan is a contender for gold in the 60 as well, boasting the nation’s second-fastest time of 7.16 seconds.
Duncan said competing for gold in the 60 is something she never expected, but she said taking first in the event would be one of the highlights of her illustrious career.
“I’m just hoping that I’m able to score as many points as possible,” Duncan said. “I know my team is wanting me to do the best I can. I know I have to hold them down, so I’m just hoping that I can make them proud at the end of the day.”
The other significant opportunity for LSU to gain team points is in the 800-meter run in which senior Charlene Lipsey and junior Natoya Goule own the two fastest times in the event this season.
Lipsey and Goule finished first and second at the SEC Championships, and much of the Tigers’ chances in the team competition hinges on the 18 points LSU would receive from duplicating that result this weekend.
Shaver said a good performance from any one of the four teams with the best chances to win could land anyone with the title, including the Lady Tigers.
“We’re healthy and we’ve got several opportunities to score,” Shaver said. “Everybody is ready to go. It couldn’t get here fast enough from our standpoint.”
The LSU men will send three entries to the Championships, but the Tigers stand virtually no chance of claiming the title or even a podium position.
The Tigers will be trying to avoid the end of a five-year run, finishing in the top-5 at the meet, with their best opportunity for points coming from sophomore sprinter Aaron Ernest, who is favored to win the 200.
Senior long jumper Damar Forbes is also in the hunt for an individual national title in his last season with the Tigers. Forbes is the NCAA’s No. 2-ranked performer in the long jump this season, with a best jump of 26 feet, 7 3/4 inches.
Shaver said the key for both teams will be to not think about other teams. Instead he wants each athlete to focus on his or her individual event.
“I know they have a great opportunity,” Shaver said. “They just need to go in and approach it just like every other meet they’ve done during the year, and worry about the things they have control over.”
