The Tigers and Lady Tigers travel to Fayetteville, Arkansas, for the third time this season to compete in the Southeastern Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships at the Randall Tyson Track Center today and Saturday.
Field event finals and preliminary races start today at 4 p.m. Saturday’s field events begin at 1 p.m. and final races at 3 p.m.
The men will enter the competition in third place and the women will take the No. 12 spot among the Top 25 in the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
“It’s really one of those weeks where I think it gets down to just mentally getting prepared for the level of competition that they’re going to face in a championship meet like this,” said LSU coach Dennis Shaver. “Physically, the best thing we can do is really get them rested up because we’ve really been training hard and traveling hard for the last month. I think that takes a toll on the body.”
Eight Tigers and seven Lady Tigers, including relays for both teams, will compete in the SEC Championships.
Shaver said he stresses the idea that the process is more important than the end result.
Junior sprinter Michael Cherry can attest to that. Cherry is ranked No. 2 nationally in the men’s 400 meter race with a season-best time of 45.78 seconds.
“I’ve been working the same as every week — coming out here practicing, getting treatment, working out looking at my old races — trying to get better than I was the week before,” Cherry said. “Now it’s not about getting in shape. It’s about knowing what you’re doing and knowing that you’ve been trained the whole year that you can go out here and put it on the track and put it together.”
Junior thrower Johnnie Jackson achieved a personal-best of 70 feet, 5 3/4 inches to move to the No. 13 spot in the men’s weight throw event. Junior sprinter Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake enters the weekend tied for No. 14 with a season-best of 6.65 seconds in the 60-meter race.
All-American senior sprinter Cyril Grayson is in the No. 10 position in the national rankings with an indoor personal-record of 46.51 seconds in the men’s 400-meter dash.
All-American sophomore sprinter Mikiah Brisco ranks No. 4 in the NCAA with a personal-best of 8.06 seconds in the women’s 60-meter hurdle event. Sophomore hurdler Daeshon Gordon set a career-best with 8.10 seconds in the event to place No. 6 nationally this season.
Junior distance runner Morgan Schuetz ranks No.11 with a personal-best of 2:04.05 in the women’s 800 meters as she also makes LSU’s distance medley relay team. The distance medley relay team made the No. 12 spot and also set a school record of 11:05.34.
Junior sprinter Jada Martin ties for the No. 5 in the women’s 200-meter event with a best of 23.10 seconds.
“I’ve always been this adrenaline junkie and that’s why I felt like track and field is the best sport for me because it’s like in that moment your heart kinds of stops,” Martin said. “It’s like, ‘OMG I’m really about to run, I’m really about to compete.’ You’re thinking a thousand things. It’s a feeling that I like, and I get it so often that it’s the kind of energy I feed off for myself.”
LSU looks to strengthen its rankings in the SEC Championship in hopes of qualifying for the 2016 NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships that will be held on March 11 and 12 at the Birmingham Crossplex in Birmingham, Alabama. The Top 16 individuals and Top 12 relays in each event that advance this weekend will compete in the nationals.
You can reach Jourdan Riley on Twitter @jourdanr_TDR