The travels never seem to end for the LSU track and field squads.
After a weekend of numerous NCAA qualifiers and a men’s team title in the New Balance Invitational in New York City, the Tigers and Lady Tigers hit the road again, traveling to snowy Fayetteville, Ark., for the second time in three weeks to compete in the Tyson Invitational.
LSU coach Dennis Shaver said he is looking to see how his athletes will respond after nearly a month of traveling.
“The biggest challenge we’re going to face is, coming off some extensive travel, how well we can recover physically and maintain some consistent effort,” Shaver said.
The Tyson Invitational is a two-day individual performance meet, meaning there is no team scoring for the more than 100 universities competing this weekend.
Shaver said he hoped to use the strong finishes in the New Balance meet as a building block for his teams, citing All-American Brittani Carter’s high jump title, freshman Jasmin Stowers’ NCAA automatic qualifying time in the 60-meter hurdles and Walter Henning’s continued dominance in the weight throw as “highlights” of the weekend.
“Once you get into the NCAA Championships, it’s all about having individual championship performers — quality rather than quantity,” Shaver said. “You’ve got to have people that are leading events, so if we can have as many top finishes like in the New Balance [meet], we’ll be ready for the championship season.”
With a field including 12 nationally ranked women’s teams and 11 ranked men’s squads, the Tyson Invitational will serve as another tough test for LSU as well as preparation for the Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships in two weeks, which will also be held at the Randal Tyson Track Center at Arkansas.
Shaver said a focal point for the weekend will include performers developing consistency in their main events.
“We’re going to have very few individuals doing multiple events, so the goal is for each person to focus on improving in that one event they’re competing in,” Shaver said.
Through four meets, eight LSU performers have already automatically qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships in March — four each for the No. 2 Tigers and No. 3 Lady Tigers.
Despite few realistic chances to qualify for the NCAAs so far, Shaver said he wanted to see improvement from the 4×400-meter relay squads, adding that the Tyson Invitational will be a “very competitive environment for the event.”
By this point in the season, the Tigers are also dealing with some seasonal aches and pains.
Senior pole vaulter Josh Dominguez, a runner-up at last year’s NCAA Outdoor Championships, will miss another meet after a fall in practice last week required stitches in his hand.
 
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Contact Chris Abshire at [email protected]