Baton Rouge is the last stop before the NCAA Indoor championships for the majority of the LSU track and field teams.Eleven Tigers and Lady Tigers will compete Friday in the NCAA Indoor Qualifier, or “Last Chance Meet,” at the Carl Maddox Field House. Four other LSU athletes will compete Saturday in the Iowa State NCAA Qualifier in Ames, Iowa. The LSU NCAA Qualifier begins at 2 p.m. on Friday in the Maddox Field House, and the Iowa State NCAA Qualifier begins at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday at the Lied Recreation Center. LSU coach Dennis Shaver said there are six of these meets happening throughout the country this weekend. LSU will only send athletes to two.”After Saturday, that’s it,” Shaver said. “We find out Tuesday morning who all is in the NCAA championship.”The 11 athletes competing Friday are sprinters and field-event participants. The four athletes going to Iowa State are middle-distance runners. Shaver said he decided to send the middle-distance runners to Iowa because the track is longer, larger and more forgiving than the track in the Maddox Field House. The Lied Recreation Center track in Ames has wider lines and measures 300 meters long compared to the Field House’s 200 meters.”Iowa State University has an oversized track … a much better track to run fast times around the oval,” Shaver said.Shaver said it is difficult to get into the NCAA meet because so few people can participate in each event because of the depth. Five or six LSU athletes are still on the bubble to make the meet.”I always tell the athletes, if you can get yourself into the NCAA, and once you’re there, if you can just duplicate your best performance of the year, more than likely, you’re going to score because so few get in,” Shaver said. “Usually only 14 to 16 athletes are going to get into each event.”Senior Will Coppage, junior Marcus McGehee, sophomore Michael Lauro and freshman Damar Forbes will compete for the Tigers on Friday. Representatives for the Lady Tigers are senior Kristina Davis, senior Samantha Henry, senior Katelyn Rodrigue, junior Kenyanna Wilson, junior Tenaya Jones, freshman Kimberlyn Duncan and freshman Takeia Pinckney.The middle-distance runners going to Iowa are all competing in the 800-meter run. Senior Jamaal James, freshman Sadiki White, junior Brittany Hall and freshman Charlene Lipsey will make the trip to Ames.All the athletes competing this weekend have only met the NCAA provisional standards for the NCAA championships. The Tigers and Lady Tigers who have automatic or very high provisional qualifying standards, like No. 1 junior thrower Walter Henning, are sitting this meet out.Shaver said he expects a high number of athletes to get into the NCAA meet.”I expect to have anywhere from 20 to 25 athletes to make it into the meet,” Shaver said. “We usually don’t have as many young athletes going … We have quite a few freshman I’m pretty confident are going to get into the meet.”The Tigers will have a week of practice before the NCAA Indoor Championship following the meets. The meet will be held at the Randall Tyson Track Complex in Fayetteville, Ark., from March 12-13.——Contact Katherine Terrell at [email protected]