The Tigers’ track and field program hit the ground running Saturday in the season’s opening meet at the Crimson Tide Indoor Opener in Birmingham, Ala.
LSU won seven events in the opener and set nine indoor personal bests between the men’s and women’s programs.
The No. 2 Lady Tigers claimed five individual event wins, while the No. 3 Tigers took home two victories.
“It being the first competition and asking our athletes to only do one event each, I thought we showed good concentration and focus,” LSU coach Dennis Shaver said. “Whenever you can perform personal bests in the first meet, that only means more good things to come.”
LSU senior Semoy Hackett took the women’s 60-meter dash, posting a 7.36 time and edging out Auburn junior Kai Selvon by a narrow .02-second margin.
Senior Cassandra Tate won the women’s 200-meter dash (23.71), while junior Charlene Lipsey took the women’s mile run (4:52.37).
LSU swept the 400-meter dash with senior Rebecca Alexander finishing in 54.12 seconds and junior Caleb Williams winning with a 47.38 time. Williams beat Mississippi State junior All-American Tavaris Tate by a slim .05-second margin.
The meet was rounded out by Tiger senior Marcus McGehee taking the men’s pole vault with a height of 16-6.75 feet.
Both programs are coming into the season expecting to contend for a program 12th women’s national indoor title and third men’s indoor title.
“Honestly, we’re used to that every year,” Shaver said. “We expect our teams to be competitive at the beginning and the end. … I tell them [the season] is like a tall ladder. Every day at practice you have to climb another rung.”
The team is preparing for a hyped dual meet Saturday against Texas A&M.
Both Aggie teams are ranked in preseason polls, with the men’s team No. 12 and the women’s team at No. 17.
 
 
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Contact Michael Gegenheimer at [email protected]