Six decades of LSU track and field athletes will come together this weekend to honor the program’s past, celebrate its present and watch its future.LSU will host its inaugural LSU Track and Field Team Awards and Alumni Recognition Banquet on Friday night, welcoming back 100 former team members. Current Tigers and Lady Tigers will compete with some alumni Saturday afternoon in the LSU Alumni Gold Meet in Bernie Moore Stadium.The alumni and outgoing seniors, who are competing at home for the last time, will be recognized before the start of the meet in an opening ceremony.Saturday marks the opening weekend for professional track athletes. Two familiar faces will compete next to current team members. Richard Thompson will run the 100-meter dash and the 4×100-meter relay, while Lori “Lolo” Jones will compete in the 100-meter hurdles.Thompson and Jones are two of 13 former Olympians who registered for the banquet tonight. Twenty-six former NCAA champions and 43 former All-Americans will be in attendance.LSU Athletic Hall of Fame members Harry Carpenter (1954-57), Bill Hardin (1962-64), Bob Smith (1972-75) and Eric Reid (1984-87) are also expected to attend. The event will honor both former Tigers and Lady Tigers and current members of the track and field teams.”The banquet will not only serve as an opportunity to honor our current student-athetes for the manner in which they have served our program in competition, in the classroom and in the community, but it will give us the chance to say ‘thank you’ to the many men and women who have led us to this point,” LSU track and field coach Dennis Shaver said in a news release.During a segment at T.J. Ribs called “Tiger Talk,” Shaver said its been “kind of a dream over the last five years” to try to get the alumni more involved. “They’re ones who made the program what it is today,” Shaver said. Shaver had a busy week talking up the meet. He spoke at a Walk-On’s luncheon Tuesday, appeared on “Tiger Talk” on Wednesday and spent part of Thursday morning as a guest on “The Jordy Hultberg Show.””This Alumni Gold Meet is always a very key competition for us,” Shaver said on Hultberg’s show. “I’ve always felt like this meet was the true start to the march towards that championship meet in June.”With only two meets left before the Southeastern Conference Championships, good performances in the remaining meets are crucial for securing spots in the NCAA East Preliminary Round, held May 27.The NCAA introduced a new format this year in determining qualifers for NCAA championships. The top 48 individual performers and top 24 relays in the East and West sections of the country will make it to their respective qualifying meet. Because the list changes constantly based on how athletes around the country are performing, the Tigers and Lady Tigers must consistently have good performances so they don’t get bumped off the list.”They have to get it done each and every time they’re lining up,” Shaver said.The top 12 individuals and top six relays from the East and West preliminaries will make it to the NCAA Championship meet June 9. —-Contact Katherine Terrell at [email protected]