The LSU track & field teams hope to continue their fast break to the 2016 season at the Razorback Invitational on Friday and Saturday at the Randall Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
The Tigers and Lady Tigers look to perform as well as they did last week in the Conference Clash: Power Five Invitational at the Birmingham Crossplex in Birmingham, Alabama.
Last Friday at the Conference Clash, eight Tigers and Lady Tigers qualified for the 60-meter hurdles, 60-meter dash and 200-meter dash to advance to the next day’s finals.
The Tigers and Lady Tigers left the Conference Clash with eight NCAA Top-10 performances, five LSU all-time Top-10 event records and 16 indoor personal-bests.
“We’ve shown good progression as a team through the first few weeks of the season,” said LSU coach Dennis Shaver said in a news release. “It’s time to take it a step further and show improvement on the performances that we’ve seen to this point. The indoor season comes and goes very quickly. We’re already at the midway point of the season before we go to SECs, so it’s important to take advantage of every opportunity we have.
Together, eight Tigers and Lady Tigers, along with relays, are qualified to compete in the 2016 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championship that will be at the Birmingham Crossplex on March 11 and 12.
Friday’s multi-events start at 11 a.m., field events begin at 3 p.m. and running events kick off at 6 p.m.
Saturday’s final rounds start with the field events at noon, the multi-events at 11 a.m. and the running events at 11:15 a.m.
The teams competing in the men’s events are No. 1 Florida, No. 3 Texas A&M, No. 5 Oregon, No. 7 Georgia, No. 11 Arkansas, No. 16 Oklahoma State, Florida State, Iowa, Iowa State, Oklahoma and UCLA.
LSU junior hurdler Jordan Moore set a national-leading time of 7.69 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles last weekend. This weekend, he hopes to reinforce his status as a national championship contender and All-American candidate.
LSU sophomore middle distance runner Jack Wilkes ran a career-record best of 1 minute, 49.79 seconds in his first 800-meter event a week ago. He ranked No. 15 nationally and looks to continue improving his times.
A week ago, LSU’S 4×400-meter relay team ranked second for the NCAA with a time of 3:05.77.
The teams participating in the women’s events are No. 1 Arkansas, No. 2 Georgia, No. 5 Oregon, No. 6 Florida, No. 20 Texas A&M, Florida State, Iowa, Iowa State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and UCLA.
LSU junior sprinter Jada Martin placed seventh in the country with a time of 23.46 seconds when she ran in her first women’s 200-meter dash of the 2016 season last weekend. In her season debut, LSU junior jumper Nataliyah Friar jumped 20 feet, 5 inches in the women’s long jump to rank No. 10 nationally. She will compete in the event in Friday’s opener.
“Many of these events will be very much like an SEC and NCAA final with the teams that are in this meet, so this will be a great opportunity for our athletes to take another big step in their progression this season,” Shaver said.
Next, the Tigers and Lady Tigers will compete in the two-day New Mexico Collegiate Classic on Friday, Feb. 5 and Saturday, Feb. 6 at the Albuquerque Convention Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
You can reach Jourdan Riley on Twitter @jourdanr_TDR