SEC Championships await Tigers
The LSU men’s and women’s track and field teams head north to face the fierce competition that awaits them at the Randal Tyson Center in Fayetteville, Ark., for the Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships.
For the first time in history, the SEC Championships will take place over three days, with the pentathlon taking place on Friday and the remainder of events on Saturday and Sunday.
In last year’s conference championships, the men’s team finished in second place, and the women finished fourth.
Widely regarded as the toughest conference in the nation, the SEC has a total of eight men’s teams ranked in the Top 25, including the top four in the nation, No. 1 Tennessee, No. 2 Arkansas, No. 3 Alabama and No. 4 LSU.
On the women’s side this weekend, five of the 12 teams the Tigers will face are ranked in the Top 25. Along with the Tigers, the SEC has three more schools in the Top 6: No. 3 Florida, No. 4 South Carolina and No. 6 Auburn.
“Of all the sports in the SEC, track and field is probably the most competitive,” said head coach Pat Henry. “You can have a great team, a Top 6 team in the country, and still only be in the Top 6 of the SEC.”
Henry said the teams are in pretty good shape in terms of qualifying for the NCAA Indoor meet in two weeks, but can still add a few more to help compete at the national meet.
“Our ultimate goal is to win the NCAA [Championships],” Henry said. “In order to do that, a couple of people need to be a little more competitive, and we need to stay healthy.”
The men have qualified in seven events for the NCAA Championships. The two
automatic qualifiers are Olympian Walter Davis in the triple jump and long jump and Alleyne Francique in the 400-meter run.
Davis is the national leader in the triple jump and is second to Alabama’s Miguel Pate in the long jump. Last year, Davis swept both events, becoming only the second athlete in SEC history to accomplish the feat.
Francique leads the SEC in the 400-meter dash with NCAA provisional qualifier Lueroy Colquhoun holding onto the second spot. Francique and Colquhoun, along with Robert Parham and Pete Coley make up the SEC’s top-ranked 4×400-meter relay team, which is also a provisional qualifier for the NCAA. The Tigers have taken home the league title in that event the last two years.
“[On the men’s side], we don’t have as much depth as I would like, Henry said. “But we have the athletes to compete and be successful this weekend.”
The women have qualified in a total of 19 events for the national meet, with six automatic qualifiers, most notably Muna Lee.
Lee is the national leader in the 60 and 200-meter dashes and looks to give LSU its seventh straight victory in the 200 as well as improve on her school record time in the 60.
Sprinter Stephanie Durst follows Lee at second in the league in the 60-meter dash and seventh in the 200.
Bianca Rockett looks to give LSU its sixth triple jump title in seven years, and the SEC leader in the 60-meter hurdles, Lolo Jones, hopes to take home the title in her critical event as well.
“On the women’s side, there is the same kind of competition [as the men’s], Henry said. “We need to stay healthy, and we have to compete at a high level to be successful. And we’ve got the people to meet those expectations.”
The Tigers will host the LSU Last Ditch meet next Friday in their final outing before the NCAA Indoor Championships, which will be held March 8-9 in Fayetteville, Ark.
Bryan Wideman