The LSU track team will ride its hot streak to Austin, Texas, today to compete in the Texas Relays from today to Saturday.
The University of Texas will host some of the top track and field teams in the nation during the four-day event, highlighted by the sprint relay events on the final day.
“They have to step up their intensity,” said LSU coach Dennis Shaver. “When you go to the Texas Relays, it’s a chance for a lot of the very best relay teams in the United States, that come from all over … to line up. It’ll be the first chance outdoors that we all have the chance to line up and run these sprint relays against one another.”
The No. 2 Lady Tigers possess the nation’s top-ranked 4×400-meter relay team, after the crew of seniors Rebecca Alexander, Cassandra Tate, Jonique Day and junior Siedda Herbert posted a time of 3:36.21 last weekend in the LSU Relays.
The team of Alexander and fellow senior Semoy Hackett, sophomore Jasmin Stowers and junior Kimberlyn Duncan hold the No. 2 spot in the 4×100-meter relay, with their time of 43.86 seconds in the same meet.
“I feel like the team did great,” Duncan said. “I feel like it showed everybody a little bit of how the rest of the season is going to go. From here on out, the meets are going to get harder and more intense. Then, next thing you know, it’s regionals, then the [Southeastern Conference meet] and then nationals, so you just have to be ready to go.”
Duncan will also open her individual events at the Texas Relays with her first running of the 100-meter dash this season. The Bowerman Award hopeful, awarded to the nation’s top track and field athlete, has been held out of her individual events for the past two meets to focus on the relays and to be better prepared once she does start individuals.
“I’m actually going to open up in the 100 this week,” Duncan said. “Then I know I’m going to open up more in my individual events. So this week is mainly relays, but I do get to run the 100, and I think next week, after that, we’ll see if I’m able to run the 200.”
Freshman sprinter Aaron Ernest, the early breakout star for the Tigers, is expected to compete in Austin after having a 101-degree fever earlier in the week, causing him to miss two days of practice.
“It seems that he’s come down with a bug,” Shaver said. “But hopefully he’ll recover and will be able to go with us this week.”
Ernest has grabbed the spotlight in recent weeks with two wins in as many meets in the 100-meter dash, which earned him SEC Men’s Runner of the Week honors.
 
 
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Contact Michael Gegenheimer at [email protected]