The NCAA Indoor Championships have arrived, and the LSU men and women’s track and field teams look to add to their large collection of national titles this weekend at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Ark.
Since head coach Pat Henry joined the LSU track and field team in 1987, the Tigers and Lady Tigers have combined to win 23 national championships. Last season the women’s team won the Indoor National Championship, while the men’s team won the Outdoor National Title.
LSU qualified 20 athletes for competition in this year’s indoor meet, more than any other year in history.
The top 16 athletes in each event qualify and represent their respective schools at the national championships.
The top-ranked women’s team qualified 11 athletes in attempt to defend its championship, while the fifth-ranked men’s team will send nine.
“I believe this is the most athletes we have ever sent to the national championships,” Henry said. “Overall I’m pleased with the individuals who’ve qualified, but now our job is to perform at the level that got us there.”
Highlighting the women’s team is All-American Muna Lee, who currently ranks No. 1 in the nation in both the 60 and 200-meter dashes. Lee was the 2002 national champion in the 200 and seeks to add two more to her growing list of accomplishments at LSU.
Sprinters Lolo Jones and Monique Hall join Lee in the 60 as the three Lady Tigers rank among the nation’s top 16 in the event.
Jones will also compete in the 60-meter hurdles where she holds the fifth-fastest time in the country this year. She won the Southeastern Conference Championship in the event two weeks ago.
Hall gets two chances to score points for the Lady Tigers as she, Lee and Stephanie Durst all qualified for the 200. This is Hall’s first appearance in the NCAA Championships. Durst finished third in the 200 last season.
Marian Burnett ranks first in the country in the 800-meter run. She is the only senior competing for the Lady Tigers, and she looks to defend her national title in the 800.
The Lady Tigers have two athletes competing in field events. Nicole Toney is defending national champion in the indoor triple jump and Mallory McDonald, the school record holder in the weight throw, appears in her first NCAA championship.
The men’s team is led by its quarter-milers. Junior All-American Pete Coley finished second in last season’s indoor championships and enters this year with the fifth-fastest time in the 400-meter run in the country. Coley did not qualify for nationals until last week in Aimes, Iowa.
Freshman Kelly Willie will join Coley in the 400 and holds the eighth fastest time in the nation.
Willie, Coley, Marlon Greensword and Bennie Brazell will combine to go after the title in the 4×400-meter relay. They boast the second-fastest time in the country this season. South Carolina ranks No. 1 in the country in the event. At the SEC Championships two weeks ago, the Gamecocks overtook the Tigers in the last 10 meters, winning the SEC title.
Robert Parham returns to the track after nursing a pulled hamstring the past few weeks to compete in the 200. Parham ranks sixth in the country in the event.
John Moffit, LeJuan Simon and Traun Smith will all compete for the Tigers in the triple jump.
Smith is the lone senior in competition for the men’s team and was an All-American in the event last season.
Simon posted the nation’s fifth-best jump this season in the triple jump.
Simon and Moffitt also qualified for the long jump. Moffitt is undefeated in the long jump this season, posting the best score in the country. He won the SEC title in the event two weeks ago.
Daniel Trosclair has the 14th-best pole vault mark in the country and will compete for his first NCAA title.
The men’s team finished third at the NCAA Indoor Meet last season.