Just one week after wrapping up the 2015 indoor season at the NCAA Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas, the LSU men’s and women’s track and field teams are starting the outdoor season at the Louisiana Classics.
The Tigers and Lady Tigers open the 2015 outdoor season at 3 p.m. today and Saturday at Ragin’ Cajuns Track Stadium in Lafayette, Louisiana.
Only select athletes will compete at the meet this weekend, including competitors in the throws, relays and hurdles.
LSU’s throwers have their first chance to compete in the discus, hammer and javelin throws at the meet this weekend.
Senior All-American thrower Rodney Brown will begin his campaign to return to the NCAA Outdoor Championships and improve on his LSU-record discus throw of 212 feet, 2 inches. Fellow senior and thrower Jeremy Tuttle will also compete in the javelin and hammer throw for the first time in the 2015 season.
Junior throwers Terry Hughes and Patrick Geers are throwing the javelin and disus, while Geers and junior thrower David Collins are competing in the hammer throw.
“Our goal is to give our people that didn’t compete indoors an opportunity to compete,” said LSU track and field coach Dennis Shaver. “Rodney Brown is back to throw the discus, where he is not a factor indoor. There are a lot of things that can happen for us.”
For the Lady Tigers, junior throwers Mayme Cook, Doren Welch and sophomore thrower Alli Brasuell are throwing the javelin, while freshmen throwers Gabby Figueroa, Marvalyn Vernon and Sidnie Wilder are competing in the hammer throw for the first time in their careers.
The Tigers and Lady Tigers will both run in the 4×100-meter relay for the first time this season, and the 4×400-meter relay teams will run on the outdoor track for the first time in preparation for the Texas Relays on March 26-28.
“We’re going to run some of our relays because next week we go to the Texas Relays,” Shaver said. “It will give us a chance to do what you might say is a little rehearsal for them, because we’ve only done one practice for them.”
Senior hurdler Joshua Thompson and sophomore hurdler Jordan Moore — the 2014 Big 12 Champion in the 110-meter hurdles — will transition from the 60-meter hurdles to the 110-meter hurdles in the outdoor season.
Sophomore sprinter Rushell Harvey is running in the 100-meter dash for the Lady Tigers, while 2014 NCAA East Preliminary qualifiers junior sprinter and hurlder Chanice Chase and senior Mariah Georgetown are running in the 100-meter hurdles.
Shaver anticipates the outdoor season to be more successful than the indoor season, during which the men’s and women’s teams both finished in the top 10.
“It will be exciting to see how we can progress week after week,” Shaver said.
You can reach Jacob Hamilton on Twitter @jhamilton_TDR