It’s quite an accomplishment for a team to have one athlete ranked in the top 10 of the NCAA. But LSU’s track and field teams have six top-10 runners in the same event.The Lady Tigers hold four of the top 10 spots in the 800-meter run. Senior LaTavia Thomas has the No. 1 spot, followed by senior Kayann Thompson at No. 2, junior Brittany Hall at No. 3 and freshman Charlene Lipsey at No. 7.The Tigers have two of the top 10 spots in the 800-meters. Senior Richard Jones ranks No. 1, and senior Jamaal James ranks No. 6.All six runners ran those times April 16 during LSU’s Alumni Gold track meet in Bernie Moore Stadium.LSU assistant head coach Mark Elliott said the group targeted the meet as an opportunity to give its best effort and evaluate itself before the Southeastern Conference championship meet. “The only thing I had no control over was the weather, and it was perfect weather,” Elliott said. “There was no excuse.”It came as a surprise to the former LSU All-American to see his group all run season best times on the same day.”When you’re dealing with individuals, not everybody feels the same,” Elliott said. “That was a surprise to me, but how fast they ran wasn’t.”Thomas set a new personal record of 2 minutes, 1.40 seconds in the meet, breaking her previous record of 2 minutes, 1.56 seconds. Thomas said she hopes to run the 800-meters in 2 minutes this season.”Each year I’ve been getting closer and closer,” Thomas said. “I ran 2:01 … last year, so I have to run faster than 2:01 this year.”The group usually works out twice a day and averages about 40 miles a week, Elliott said. The group runs throughout the year except for two months in the summer.Distance running might not be for everybody, but Jones said he enjoys it because it allows him to test his own limits.”You’re really pushing your body to its limits, even in your practices,” Jones said. “It’s really just going out there and seeing how far can you go today, after how far you went yesterday.”The junior-college transfer said he wouldn’t have pictured the 800-meter run as his main event while growing up.——Contact Katherine Terrell at [email protected]”My passion was always the mile. The 800 was my fun race,” Jones said. “When I started getting into college, it became more of my favorite event. I started taking it a lot more seriously. The 800 is an exciting race. It’s fast, it gets done with quickly and I guess I can say I really like it now.”Thomas ran everything from the 100-meter dash to the 1,500-meter run before she started to focus on the 800.”When I started running, I was about four years old,” the Philadelphia native said. “I was good in everything I did when I was younger, but it got to the point where that was the race I’d always win. That’s how I got stuck running middle distance.”Thomas and Jones both said they hope to keep running after graduation. “Running’s one of those sports that depends on how far your body’s going to let you go. If God lets that happen, that’s one of my dreams,” Jones said. “I hope to go pro … I don’t want to just be an athlete, but I want to be that person that made a statement in running. I want to try to do something different than most runners.”