The best team at LSU looks to add to its legacy
The 2023-24 LSU athletics season comes to a close in Eugene, Oregon, and the Tigers have a chance to do what they did last year: go out with a natty. From June 5-June 8, the University of Oregon hosts the 2024 NCAA Division 1 Outdoor Track & Field Championships, and the LSU women’s team is one of the top contenders for the national title. The men’s team has strong contenders, but it’s far less likely they’ll score enough points to hoist the trophy. Men’s day 1 begins at 6:30 p.m. on ESPN2 on June 5, women’s day 1 is the next day at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN2, men’s day 2 is the day after starting at 8:00 p.m. on ESPN2 and women’s day 2 closes things out starting at 4:30 p.m. on ESPN.
How do you win?
Not everyone is familiar with what it takes to win the track championships, so here’s a quick rundown. Unlike in most other sports, no school qualified a team with a set number of participants through a bracket of any kind. Every qualifier scores points for their team, and there are a handful of teams who have a realistic shot of taking home the team title each year because of the number of points-scoring opportunities they have. Teams earn points when their athletes/relay teams finish in the top eight of an event final. The national champions score 10 points, runners-up score 8, and 3rd-8th score 6-1 in descending order. A team can score multiple times on the same event, and it’s one of the best ways to rack up points. First, a quick look at the men.
#9 LSU men
The men have 12 points-scoring opportunities. In the sprints, Godson Oghenebrume and Da’Marcus Fleming come in as the #11 and #23 seeds in the 100m dash, and Dillon Bedell comes in as the #22 seed in the 400m dash. In the hurdles, Matthew Sophia and Jahiem Stern come in as the #9 and #10 seeds in the 110m hurdles and Sean Burrell comes in as the #8 seed in the 400m hurdles. In the relays, the 4x100m team of Myles Thomas, Da’Marcus Fleming, Jaiden Reid, Godson Oghenebrume and alternate Shakeem McKay come in as the #13 seed, and the 4x400m team of Salim Epps, Shakeem McKay, Sean Burrell, Dillon Bedell and alternate Myles Thomas come in as the #6 seed. In the jumps, Kuda Chadenga comes in as the #14 seed in the high jump. In the throws, John Meyer comes in as the #10 seed in the shot put and Will Lawrence and Tzuriel Pedigo come in as the #15 and #23 seeds in the javelin.
Arkansas, Alabama and Florida are the biggest favorites to take home the men’s title for good reason, but LSU has some decent scoring opportunities in the 4×400 and 400m hurdles. You can never count out the chance of an LSU sprinter, either. Also, John Meyer is looking to score points in the shot put for the second consecutive year. It won’t be what LSU fans should be focused on anyway, though, that’s the women.
#2 LSU women
The women lead the field with 22 points-scoring opportunities, four more than #1 Arkansas, the team who overtook LSU in the latest objective rankings. In the sprints, Brianna Lyston, Thelma Davies and Tima Godbless are the #5, #9 and #12 seeds in the 100m; Godbless, Davies, Lyston and Aniyah Bigam are the #15, #17, #21 and #22 seeds in the 200m; and Ella Onojuvwevwo is the #7 seed in the 400m. In the distance runs, Michaela Rose is the #1 seed in the 800m and Lorena Rangel Batres is the #9 seed in the 1500m. In the hurdles, Leah Phillips and Shani’a Bellamy are the #13 and #14 seeds in the 100m hurdles, and Bellamy and Phillips are the #6 and #17 seeds in the 400m hurdles. In the relays, the 4x100m team of Brianna Lyston, Thelma Davies, Leah Phillips, Tima Godbless and alternate Aniyah Bigam are the #5 seed, and the 4x400m team of Ella Onojuvwevwo, Shani’a Bellamy, Michaela Rose, Garriel White and alternate Brianna Lyston are the #7 seed. In the jumps, Morgan Smalls is the #19 seed in the high jump, the #23 seed in the long jump and the #16 seed in the triple jump. Taylor Fingers is the #24 seed in the triple jump. In the throws, Estel Valeanu is the #24 seed in the discus and Trinity Spooner is the #7 seed in the javelin.
This is expected to be a big battle between LSU and Arkansas with some push by Texas and Oregon. LSU may have more opportunities to score than Arkansas, Arkansas has about as many good chances to score thanks to their strength in the distance events. If the seeds go to chalk in the javelin, Spooner will be LSU’s first points scorer in the event since Rebekah Wales in 2017.
LSU’s women’s outdoor track and field program is the most successful program on campus. They’ve won 15 national championships, 14 of which are official thanks to drug tests forcing the Tigers to vacate the 2012 national title. That’s triple the next best program, Texas. Despite all that, they haven’t won a non-vacated title since 2008. After winning the SEC title for the first time since 2012, LSU is in a great position to win a second national championship in the 2023-24 athletic season.