The NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships are just around the corner, and LSU track and field will be well represented in Eugene, Oregon. The Tigers punched their tickets to 22 events at the championships, split evenly between men’s and women’s events. The action begins on Wednesday, June 10, and will run through that Saturday.
The LSU men’s team enters ranked No. 6 in the country, and it will be represented as such. Eleven athletes will take part in nine individual events and two team events. Men’s preliminary rounds take place on June 10, and medals will be awarded on June 12.
LSU will feature most heavily in the 400-meter event, being represented by Malachi Austin, Grant Buckmiller and Amal Glasgow. The semi-final round is scheduled for 8:41 p.m. on June 10. If any Tiger advances to the final, expect them to run at 8:02 p.m on the medal day.
Jaiden Reid is the only double-booked Tiger in individual events on the men’s side. He will run in the 100 and 200-meter events. Reid will take part in the 100-meter first at 8:25 p.m., then run double that distance about an hour later. If he advances to the finals in both events, he’d have even less time — only about 45 minutes — between events.
The LSU men’s team will take part in a pair of team events, the 4×400 relay and the 4×100 relay.
Austin, Buckmiller and Glasgow will be joined by Shakeem McKay to make up the event’s 1600 meter total length. They will be the first event of the championships, hitting the track at 7:05 p.m. If they make it through to Friday, they’ll run at a similar time.
McKay and Reid are half of the 4×100 team; the other slots are filled by Joshua Caleb and Jeremiah Walker. Opposite of the 4×400 team, they will run at the very tail end of the day, at 10:36 p.m. Caleb and Walker will run at 9:21 p.m. two days later if they make it to the final.
The other LSU men’s track and field representatives are Chad Hendricks, Jack Larriviere, Matthew Sophia and Jordan Turner. They’ll be in the discus throw, javelin throw, 110 meter hurdles and long jump, respectively.
The women’s team sends 12 athletes and will take part in 11 events. Women’s events in Eugene run on the same timetable as the men but will take place a day later. They start with preliminary rounds on June 11 and continue with the finals for events two days later on June 13.
Continuing a strong lineage of producing elite 100 meter runners, LSU has three runners on the blocks vying to become college’s fastest woman: Tima Godbless, Athaleyha Hinckson and Shawnti Jackson. Jackson is the only LSU woman to be in multiple individual events. Just like Reid on the men’s side, she’ll also run the 200 meter.
The women will also bring teams to the 4×100 and 4×400 relays. Hinckson, Godbless and Jackson will run with Aniyah Bigam in the 4×100. In the 4×400, Skyler Franklin is the lone representative competing in the individual 400 meter event, and she will be joined by Nasya Williams, Kennedi Burks and Keliza Smith.
Additionally, the women have a pair of runners competing in distance events. Edna Chepkemoi will take part in the 5,000 meter on June 13 at 8:55 p.m., and Abigael Chemnagei in the 10,000 meter — a little bit under six and a quarter miles — on June 11 at 9:56 p.m.
Both of these events have no semi-final, meaning they won’t need to qualify into a final round to earn a medal, but they’ll need to be sharp in the only opportunity they have.
Events will be streamed on ESPN+ and televised on ESPN and ESPN2 throughout the championships.
