After an impressive showing at this past weekend’s Tiger Classic at which 10 athletes received regional qualifying marks, the LSU Tigers’ track and field teams will compete in the 79th annual Texas Relays this week.
The event will be held today through Saturday at the University of Texas’ Mike A. Myers Stadium and will feature the upper echelon of track and field programs in the nation and some of the best high school teams in the country.
LSU will take four relay teams and 11 individual athletes ranked among the nations top 12 in their events.
Both the Tigers and the Lady Tigers 4 x 400-meter relay teams are ranked No. 1 in the country, while the 4 x 100-meter relay teams are ranked second and fifth, respectively.
The LSU men enter the meet ranked No. 3 overall in the nation. Sophomore Xavier Carter will try to duplicate his performance in last weekend’s Tiger Classic.
In the men’s 400-meter final, Carter, who was featured in this week’s Sports Illustrated “Faces in the Crowd” section, ran a nation-best time of 45.78 seconds to finish first and regionally qualify for the event.
Carter, the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Athlete of the Year, will join Marvin Stevenson, Siraj Williams and Olympian Kelly Willie as they try to defend last year’s 4 x 100-meter relay title in the Texas Relays.
Both Carter and Willie will take No. 1 rankings to Austin with Carter being top in the 200-meter event and Willie in the 400 meters.
Also competing for the Tigers are freshmen Ricky Jean-Francois and Trindon Holliday.
The two are two-sport athletes and are fresh off performances in the football team’s spring scrimmage.
Jean Francois is a defensive end and will compete in the men’s shot-put, while Holliday is a return specialist and will run the 100-meter dash.
The women’s squad will try to improve their No. 9 national ranking while in Austin this weekend.
Sophomore Kelly Ann Baptiste heads into the meet after running a wind-aided school-record time of 22.94 seconds in the 200-meter race in the Tiger Classic.
Baptiste and sophomore Brooklynn Morris are each ranked in the 100 and 200 meters. Baptiste starts the outdoor season No. 5 in the 100 meters and No. 7 in the 200 meters, while Morris is fifth in the 200 and 10th in the 100.
The two other Lady Tigers ranked individually are sophomore Deonna Lawrence, who is No. 6 in the 400 meters, and junior Tanya Osbourne, who ranks 11th in the 800-meter race.
 
 
Contact Jeff Martin at [email protected]