LSU track and field opened up their indoor season at the Red Raider Open in Lubbock, Texas. As far as team competition goes, LSU has been mainly seen as the underdog. Both the men and women’s teams are currently unranked.
The Bowerman watch lists, or, the Heisman award of track and field, have continued to shine a lot of positive light on LSU’s program. There were three tigers recently named to these watch lists.
Sean Burrell was the lone tiger named to the watchlist on the men’s side. Burrell is one of the top 400m hurdle athletes in the country. He has won back-to-back NCAA championships in that event.
This season, Burrell is hoping to move up and break the school record for the 400m hurdles. He currently ranks second on the list with a time of 47.85.
Along with the 400m hurdle event, Burrell also competes in the 4x400m run. Burrell will most likely continue to be a top contender for LSU this season.
On the women’s side of things, Alia Armstrong and Favour Ofili were named to the watch list. Both are looking to add to the bright history of LSU sprinters.
Armstrong was the NCAA champion in the 100m hurdles last season, and she earned a spot on the USA roster for the world championships. There, Armstrong finished in fourth place in the 100m hurdles.
Ofili was a semifinalist for the Bowerman last season and is one of the top sprinters in the nation. She runs in the 200m and 100m races as well as the 4x100m, alongside her teammate, Armstrong.
All three runners on the watchlist should prove to be bright spots individually for LSU. As a team, however, it is unlikely as of now that LSU will be heavy contenders in terms of winning a NCAA or SEC championship this year.
LSU will have individual runners competing on the national championship stage, but the team itself is not shaping up to be one of the strongest in a loaded south region.
Competing against the likes of Texas, Arkansas, Baylor and Texas A&M won’t be easy this season. All four of those teams are expected to be stronger than LSU.
Preseason polls are tough to judge the team though, so the only thing for LSU to do is continue to work.
