It is always good to give a high-performance engine a tuneup before the big race.
The LSU track team hopes to do just that Friday when the Tigers welcome 13 teams to Carl Maddox Field House for the LSU Twighlight Meet. Field events will kick off the competition at 3 p.m., followed by the running events at 6 p.m.
The Tigers return to Baton Rouge following two straight weeks of
road meets in Boise, Idaho and New York City.
Last week, the LSU teams combined to sweep the Fourth Annual Armory Invitational in New York. The Lady Tigers finished with a total score of 138.5, 29.5 points in front of second-place South Carolina. The Tigers completed the sweep with a 103-92 victory over second-place Texas.
“Going into it, I think everybody felt healthy, felt good about the whole atmosphere we were going into, and we just competed the way we all know how to compete,” said four-time All-American Robert Parham.
The Tigers were led by senior John Moffitt, who won the long jump with an LSU record distance of 27-1 3/4. Moffitt’s distance was also an SEC and NCAA record for the long jump this season, as well as the No. 2 mark in the United States and the No. 3 distance in the world.
LSU coach Pat Henry said he was pleased with the team’s
performance at the Armory Invitational.
“We had some outstanding performances at New York, and I think it’s the time of the season where those things start happening and some consistency of effort makes those kinds of things happen,” Henry said.
The LSU Twilight meet is the last tuneup for the No. 1 Lady Tigers and the No. 2 Tigers before the SEC Indoor Championships Feb. 28-29 at the Nutter Field House in Lexington, Ky.
Several athletes said while the team is prepared for the LSU Twilight, the focus remains on the SEC Championships and the NCAA
Championships held March 12-13.
“I’m not worried too much of getting a time from this track here,” said Hazelann Regis. “I’m just waiting for SEC and Nationals to really do what I’ve got to do because those are the meets that really count, especially Nationals.”
Parham said he was also looking forward to the SEC Championships.
“This meet I think more than anything we’re just going to go out and have fun,” Parham said. “There’s not a lot of pressure on our backs seeing as the teams coming in aren’t too competitive. But going into SEC this meet is another meet to get us ready.”
Henry agreed with his players that the meet’s atmosphere will be relaxed.
“It has to be because SEC is next week,” Henry said. “You do some things this week to kind of keep the motor turning over a little bit, but you just don’t run it full blast. You just don’t do some things that jeopardize where we want to be next week.”