On Monday, the LSU women moved up to No. 4 in the latest edition of the U.S. Track & Field and Cross-Country Coaches Association’s Rating Index. On Tuesday, LSU women’s track and field athletes Favour Ofili and Lisa Gunnarsson were lauded with SEC accolades.
Ofili was named the SEC Co-Track Athlete of the Week, and Gunnarsson received Field Athlete of the Week honors. For Gunnarsson, it marks her fourth career weekly indoor award from the SEC offices, while Ofili collects her first career award. Alia Armstrong received Track Athlete of the Week honors on Feb. 1.
Gunnarsson, a two-time national champion in the pole vault, opened her final collegiate season in the Purple and Gold with an NCAA leading clearance of 14’ 9.50” (4.51 meters) winning the pole vault event at the Bayou Bengal meet in Baton Rouge.
Ofili shined in Albuquerque, N.M., at the New Mexico Collegiate Classic and registered top-10 national marks in two separate events. She began her weekend with an African indoor record of 22.71 in the 200-meter dash to take the title in that event. Her converted mark in the event of 22.78 ranks No. 3 in the NCAA. She returned to the track on Saturday by registering a personal best time of 7.17 seconds, which converts to 7.19 for NCAA ranking purposes, in the 60-meter dash to take silver and rank No. 5 in the NCAA. Both of those times by Ofili rank inside the top 10 of the LSU all-time list.
In what is regarded as the most competitive meet of the weekend in collegiate track & field, LSU will be competing against a total of 18 ranked squads in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross-Country Coaches Association Top 25. LSU will be taking on the likes of Alabama, Arizona State, Arkansas, Duke, Florida, Florida State, Iowa, Kansas State, Missouri, NC State, Nebraska, Ole Miss, Tennessee and more.
For the second straight week, the LSU track and field program will be in competition at two separate meets. Most of the squad will travel to Fayetteville, Arkansas, for the Tyson Invitational at the Randal Tyson Track Center, while a group of 15 distance runners will head to Nashville for the Music City Challenge at the Vanderbilt Multipurpose Facility. Both meets will be streamed on SEC Network+.
