The LSU track and field team has one last chance to qualify for the NCAA Indoor National Championships this weekend, one at the Carl Maddox Fieldhouse and the other in Ames, Iowa.
Coach Pat Henry said he wants to send athletes where they will have a better chance to qualify.
“We’ll only have two or three people go to Iowa because this is an NCAA qualifiers meet,” Henry said. “There are only six of these in the country, LSU is one of the six. Certain events are better at certain sites. If you have someone who you feel like needs to run a good 400 you send him where the best 400-meter people are going. You’re not going to run where there is no one to run a 400 against. You go where the atmosphere is competitive.”
Four of the top-ranked Lady Tigers will compete at the Maddox Fieldhouse this afternoon. Lolo Jones, who is the defending national champion in the 60-meter hurdles, will run the 60-meter dash, RaNysha LeBlanc and Brittany Littlejohn will run the 60-meter hurdles and Katie McKeever will throw the shot put.
The No. 4 Tigers will send Robert Parham running the 200-meter, Lady Tigers All-American, Nadia Davy, is running the 400-meter, and Jeff Fisher is running the 800-meter, said Henry.
Robert Parham said that he would like to run a time that gives him a good spot at the national meet. The time he is trying to reach is 20.85 seconds.
Parham said he wants to take advantage of his last chance.
“I just want to go out there and run a good time,” Parham said. “I’ve been real close all year, trying to hit it, and I just haven’t put it together. It’s do or die so I want to go out there and do what I know I can do.”
The team already has 16 people qualified for the NCAA Indoor National Championships which will be held next Friday and Saturday in Fayetteville, Ark., at the Randal Tyson Track Center. The Lady Tigers will look for their third straight national title while the Tigers are hoping to better their third-place showing from last season.