From LSU Sports
BATON ROUGE – The road to London goes through Eugene, Ore., this weekend as the premier track and field athletes in the United States converge on "Track Town, USA" with the goal of earning their spot on Team USA as the 2012 U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials are scheduled to begin Thursday at historic Hayward Field on the campus of the University of Oregon.
Among those competing will be 16 current, former and future LSU Track & Field athletes hoping to wear the red, white and blue at the 2012 Olympic Games this summer as London, England, will play host to the Games of the XXX Olympiad from July 27-Aug. 12. Athletics events begin Aug. 3.
The top three finishers in each event at the U.S. Olympic Trials that have met the "A" qualifying standard for the Olympic Games will secure their place on Team USA.
The U.S. Olympic Trials are set to begin Thursday afternoon with the men's and women's hammer throw being held at the Nike World Headquarters in Beaverton. The festivities move to Oregon's Hayward Field on Friday where the 10-day event will run through its conclusion on July1.
Tiger senior Michael Lauro kicks off the action for the LSU Track & Field teams on Thursday as he steps into the hammer cage at the Nike World Headquarters for the men's competition. He recently wrapped up his collegiate career as a three-time All-American in the hammer throw highlighted by a career best fourth place in the event at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships on June 8.
Three other LSU All-Americans from the 2012 season will also be featured during the first weekend. That includes senior Rebecca Alexander in the women's 400-meter dash, junior Charlene Lipsey in the women's 800-meter run and sophomore Jasmin Stowers in the women's 100-meter hurdles.
Alexander claimed the NCAA Outdoor silver medal in the 400 meters after smashing her personal best on June 8 with a run of 51.20 seconds in the national final. The Baton Rouge native enters her first Olympics Trials as the No. 8-ranked performer in the event among the 32 entries.
Alexander has also positioned herself for a spot in the 4x400-meter relay pool for the United States as she ran the second-fastest relay split in NCAA Championships history at 49.5 as she ran the second leg for the Lady Tigers in a school-record run of 3 minutes, 24.59 seconds for second place at the NCAA meet.
Lipsey also set a career best in her silver-medal winning run in the 800-meter final at the NCAA meet in a time of 2:01.40 to slash more than one full second off of her previous PR of 2:02.60.
Stowers ended the collegiate season by taking her first career All-America honor in the 100-meter hurdles with a fifth-place finish in the final at the NCAA Championships. The four-time SEC hurdles champion is also scheduled to run in the first round of qualifying during Friday's action at Hayward Field. She has run a seasonal-best time of 12.92 in the event to qualify for her first U.S. Olympic Trials.
Stowers will join Lady Tiger great and 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials champion Lolo Jones in the field for the women's 100-meter hurdles as the first round is scheduled to run on Friday at 7:40 p.m. CT.
Jones is poised to represent the United States at the Olympic Games for the second time in her career after winning the 100-meter hurdles title at the U.S. Olympic Trials four years ago. An Olympic finalist during the games in 2008, Jones owns the fourth-best qualifying time in the field at 12.67.
Two other former Lady Tigers national champions will also be in action this weekend as LaTavia Thomas runs the 800 meters in her second U.S. Olympic Trials and Kenyanna Wilson runs the 100 meters.
The future of the Lady Tigers program will be on display this weekend as Class of 2012 recruit and junior college national champion Keri Emanuel steps onto the triple jump runway in Saturday's qualifying round at Hayward Field. A product of South Plains College, Emanuel had a PR of 43 feet, 10 inches in the triple jump this year before sweeping junior college national titles in the long jump and triple jump.
Former Tigers Jeremy Hicks (long jump), Richard Jones (800 meters) and Zedric Thomas (long jump) are also ready to compete on the first weekend of this year's U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials.
Two of LSU's NCAA champions will highlight the second weekend of action at Hayward Field, as senior Cassandra Tate and junior Kimberlyn Duncan look to continue their magical seasons in Eugene.
Duncan is certainly a strong candidate to join Team USA in London as she lines up in her first career U.S. Olympic Trials as the No. 2-ranked 200-meter sprinter in the world for the 2012 outdoor season. She's set an impressive personal record of 22.19 in the event in the national semifinals at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships on June 7 en route to defending her NCAA 200-meter title.
The 2012 NCAA Division I Women's Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year trails only the 22.09 of fellow American Sanya Richards-Ross in the 200-meter world rankings for the 2012 season. She will not run the 100-meter dash at the U.S. Olympic Trials, despite setting a PR of 10.96 in the event this season.
Tate hopes to continue her 2012 season in London as a member of Team USA in the 400-meter hurdles as she is the No. 7-ranked performer in the field competing at the U.S. Olympic Trials. She set a PR of 55.22 in winning the NCAA title on June 8 to crack the Top 20 in the world rankings for the 2012 season.
Former NCAA champion hurdler Barrett Nugent is also set to compete during the second weekend as he's set to join former Tiger standout Ryan Fontenot in the men's 110-meter hurdles.
Nugent wrapped up his collegiate career nearly two weeks ago as the most decorated sprint hurdler for the history of the Tiger program. The 2011 NCAA Outdoor champion earned 10 All-America honors during a brilliant collegiate career in Baton Rouge from 2009-12. He's set a seasonal-best wind-legal time of 13.36 in the NCAA semifinals as the No. 13-ranked hurdler in the field.
Looking to make his third Olympics appearance for the United States is LSU great Walter Davis, who has enjoyed a stellar professional career as a former World Champion in the triple jump. Davis owns Olympic experience in 2000 and 2004 with a career-best finish of 11th place in the triple jump.
After competing in the long jump this weekend, Thomas will join Davis in triple jump qualifying for June 28 as each looks to advance to the event final on Saturday, June 30.
Eight days of the 2012 U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials feature a live television broadcast with NBC as the network providing the coverage. NBC will air the meet on June 23 (7-8 p.m.), June 24 (6-7 p.m.), June 30 (8-9 p.m.) and July 1 (6-7 p.m.), while the NBC Sports Network will broadcast events on June 22 (8-10 p.m.), June 25 (8-10 p.m.), June 28 (8-10 p.m.) and June 29 (5-7 p.m.).
Time Schedule for LSU Entries at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials Note: Times are Central and subject to change based on round-by-round qualifying. All television broadcasts are LIVE.
Thursday, June 21
5:15 p.m. – Men's Hammer Throw (Michael Lauro)
Friday, June 22
TV Coverage: NBC Sports Network (8-10 p.m. CT)
5:35 p.m. – Women's 400 Meters First Round (Rebecca Alexander)
7:00 p.m. – Women's 800 Meters First Round (Charlene Lipsey, LaTavia Thomas)
7:20 p.m. – Men's 800 Meters First Round (Richard Jones)
7:40 p.m. – Women's 100 Hurdles First Round (Lolo Jones, Jasmin Stowers)
7:45 p.m. – Men's Long Jump Qualifying (Jeremy Hicks, Zedric Thomas)
8:00 p.m. – Women's 100 Meters First Round (Kenyanna Wilson)
Saturday, June 23
TV Coverage: NBC (7-8 p.m. CT)
5:15 p.m. – Women's 100 Hurdles Semifinals (Lolo Jones, Jasmin Stowers)
5:20 p.m. – Women's Triple Jump Qualifying (Keri Emanuel)
5:40 p.m. – Women's 100 Meters Semifinals (Kenyanna Wilson)
6:30 p.m. – Women's 800 Meters Semifinals (Charlene Lipsey, LaTavia Thomas)
6:45 p.m. – Men's 800 Meters Semifinals (Richard Jones)
7:15 p.m. – Women's 400 Meters Semifinals (Rebecca Alexander)
7:45 p.m. – Women's 100 Hurdles Final (Lolo Jones, Jasmin Stowers)
7:52 p.m. – Women's 100 Meters Final (Kenyanna Wilson)
Sunday, June 24
TV Coverage: NBC (6-7 p.m. CT)
5:00 p.m. – Men's Long Jump Final (Jeremy Hicks, Zedric Thomas)
6:35 p.m. – Women's 400 Meters Final (Rebecca Alexander)
Monday, June 25
TV Coverage: NBC Sports Network (8-10 p.m. CT)
7:45 p.m. – Women's Triple Jump Final (Keri Emanuel)
8:50 p.m. – Women's 800 Meters Final (Charlene Lipsey, LaTavia Thomas)
9:47 p.m. – Men's 800 Meters Final (Richard Jones)
Thursday, June 28
TV Coverage: NBC Sports Network (8-10 p.m. CT)
6:30 p.m. – Men's Triple Jump Qualifying (Walter Davis, Zedric Thomas)
7:30 p.m. – Women's 400 Hurdles First Round (Cassandra Tate)
8:45 p.m. – Women's 200 Meters First Round (Kimberlyn Duncan)
Friday, June 29
TV Coverage: NBC Sports Network (5-7 p.m. CT)
5:00 p.m. – Women's 200 Meters Semifinals (Kimberlyn Duncan)
5:20 p.m. – Women's 400 Hurdles Semifinals (Cassandra Tate)
6:05 p.m. – Men's 110 Hurdles First Round (Ryan Fontenot, Barrett Nugent)
Saturday, June 30
TV Coverage: NBC (8-9 p.m. CT)
6:20 p.m. – Men's 110 Hurdles Semifinals (Ryan Fontenot, Barrett Nugent)
6:40 p.m. – Men's Triple Jump Final (Walter Davis, Zedric Thomas)
8:40 p.m. – Men's 110 Hurdles Final (Ryan Fontenot, Barrett Nugent)
8:50 p.m. – Women's 200 Meters Final (Kimberlyn Duncan)
Sunday, July 1
TV Coverage: NBC (6-7 p.m. CT)
6:02 p.m. – Women's 400 Hurdles Final (Cassandra Tate)
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