LSU track and field coach Dennis Shaver knows the importance of this year’s seniors to the program. Shaver became LSU’s coach in July 2004. This year’s senior class was freshmen when he took the job. “You always hate to lose the four-year letter people that have been with you from the very beginning,” Shaver said. The LSU men’s and women’s track teams will send 28 athletes – 13 of them seniors – to the NCAA Outdoor Championships on Wednesday in Des Moines, Iowa. Both teams will carry No. 1 rankings into the meet. “They’ve been to these championship meets numerous times now,” Shaver said. “They know what to expect, and they know how to handle all the opportunities that come along with being [there].” LSU swept the NCAA Mideast Regional titles May 31 at John McDonnell Field in Fayetteville, Ark. The LSU women’s team won the Southeastern Conference Outdoor crown May 18 by 28.5 points, while the men finished second to Arkansas. This year’s senior class has garnered 54 All-American honors in four years, with six athletes winning event national championships. But one other number stands out with this senior class. In four years they’ve collected six runner-up finishes and eight top-five finishes in 14 national championship meets with no titles. “It’s our last opportunity to try to clinch the team title,” said senior sprinter Richard Thompson. “We just need to come together in all aspects … We know we have the ability.” Thompson and senior Kelly-Ann Baptiste enter the meet with nation-leading times in the 100-meter dash. The duo swept the 60-meter dash crowns March 15 at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Thompson and junior Trindon Holliday, the NCAA runner-up in the 100-meter dash in 2007, hold the nation’s first-and third-leading times in the 100-meter dash at 9.93 and 10.05 seconds, respectively. Thompson said being at LSU “definitely worked out” for him. “I came here out of high school running 10.6 [in the 100-meter dash] and 21.7 [in the 200-meter dash], and they brought me all the way down to 9.9 and 20.23,” Thompson said. “It’s been an honor to be here for four years and run under coach Shaver.” Baptiste holds the nation’s fourth-fastest time in the 200-meter dash at 22.67 seconds. She said the outdoor championships will be “bittersweet” for her, and she wants to “absorb every moment.” “It’s going to be emotional walking away from all of this because I’ve been around this group of girls for four years,” Baptiste said. “Some of them have become my really closest friends.” Senior hurdler Jessica Ohanaja said it will be “depressing” to leave LSU. “To say nationals is the last time I’m going to be wearing [an LSU uniform] will be kind of hard,” Ohanaja said. Ohanaja and junior Nickiesha Wilson form one of the nation’s best duos in the 100-meter hurdles after compiling 16 points in the event at the Mideast Regional. Wilson won with a time of 12.63 seconds while Ohanaja finished third with a time of 12.91 seconds. Other LSU national contenders at the Outdoor Championships include senior Elkana Kosgei (800 meters), sophomore LaTavia Thomas (800 meters) and senior Juanita Broaddus (100 meters) The men’s greatest challenge in the Outdoor Championships comes from SEC rivals Tennessee and Florida, Florida State and Texas A&M, which is coached by former LSU coach Pat Henry. Texas A&M, Florida and Tennessee are ranked third, fourth and fifth in the nation, respectively. Florida State is ranked second and the two-time defending national champion. The national contenders on the women’s side include No. 2 Texas A&M, defending champion Arizona State and No. 4 Virginia Tech.
—-Contact Robert Stewart at [email protected]