LSU women’s track moves to No. 1 in rankings
Coming off a win in the Southeastern Conference Championships over the weekend, LSU has risen to the top of the women’s U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association’s power rankings released Tuesday.
The Lady Tigers, who went into the four-day SEC meet ranked second, overtook former No. 1 Clemson after winning six events and scoring 114 points on the final day of the competition.
The LSU women, were ranked fourth two weeks ago, finished the meet with 1611/2 points to overpower runner-up Florida and the rest of the field for its third straight SEC outdoor title and fifth in the past six seasons.
LSU made a big leap in the men’s rankings as well. The Tigers, who also had a big day Sunday to finish in second place behind champion Arkansas, moved up three spots to sixth going into the first two rounds of the NCAA Championships next week.
Both teams will compete in the NCAA East prelims May 24-26 at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville. The top 12 athletes from each event at that competition will advance to the national semifinals and finals to be held June 6-9 in Des Moines, Iowa.
Trailing the Lady Tigers in the top five this week are Kansas, Oregon, Florida and Clemson. That group is followed by Texas, Texas A&M, Arizona, Texas Tech and Arizona State.
In the men’s rankings, Texas A&M moved up one spot this week and is the new No. 1 after winning the Big 12 title last weekend. Former No. 1 Florida is now second with Indiana, Arkansas and Texas Tech rounding out the top five.
LSU, Texas, Florida State, Wisconsin and Nebraska hold down the next five spots.