The LSU track and field teams will host the third-annual “Battle on the Bayou” meet Saturday in the first of LSU’s final two home meets of the 2013 season.
LSU will host both the men’s and women’s squads of Arizona State, Penn State and Mississippi State for the meet, as well as the men’s team of Connecticut. Field events will begin at the Bernie Moore Track Stadium at 10 a.m., and the first track events start at 1:45 p.m.
With three weekend meets remaining before Southeastern Conference Championships, LSU coach Dennis Shaver said the men’s and women’s teams are beginning to develop the identity that will shape their postseason runs.
“I think that the group as a whole knows that we have to get a lot better,” Shaver said. “But everybody is starting to understand what the big picture looks like.”
The Lady Tigers currently rank No. 1 in the latest Track and Field News Women’s Collegiate Dual Meet Top 25 Rankings with a 4-0 record in dual meets this season. Arizona State and Penn State are ranked eighth and 15th, respectively, while Mississippi State is currently unranked.
Despite LSU’s eagerness to win the meet, Shaver said he still won’t ask too much from individual athletes because the main goal of the three remaining regular season meets is to keep the squad healthy.
“You definitely don’t want to take high-risk chances when there’s nothing of real importance at stake,” Shaver said.
Senior sprinter Kimberlyn Duncan will compete in her signature event, the 200-meter sprint, but she will sit out of the 100-meter. She will also run as the second leg of the women’s 4×100-meter relay, Shaver said.
Junior middle distance runner Natoya Goule will run the 400, after setting an LSU school record in the 800 with a world-leading time of 2 minutes, 1.18 seconds at UCLA’s Drake Stadium last weekend.
Goule, a native of Jamaica, will go head-to-head with another top Jamaican runner in Mississippi State’s Jodi-Ann Muir. The pair have similar times in the 400 with Goule’s personal best of 51.52 seconds and Muir’s career-best 52.00.
The men have not been as successful at staying healthy as their female counterparts, but the Tigers are getting healthier day by day, Shaver said.
“We’ve been very cautious with our people, and it’s paying off,” Shaver said. “They’re all starting to feel better and get back into full-scale training with us.”
Sophomore sprinter Aaron Ernest will return to action Saturday, competing in the men’s 100-meter after suffering a foot injury at the NCAA Indoor Championships that kept him out of training for a few weeks.
Senior long jumper Damar Forbes, who finished second at the NCAA Indoor Championships, will not compete this weekend, but Shaver said the three-time All-American is set to return in next week’s LSU Alumni Gold meet — the last home meet in his LSU career.
On Saturday, the battered No. 10 Tigers will face a stiff competition field against No. 13 Mississippi State, No. 17 Arizona State, No. 19 Penn State and unranked Connecticut.
Shaver said he is looking for athletes to take advantage of the opportunity presented to them in a competitive home meet that is expected to have good weather conditions.
“At this point in the year, we’re trying to improve technically, and it looks like they’ll have an opportunity to do that with the good weather,” Shaver said. “You have to take advantage of that because next weekend it may be raining or it might not be nice.”