GREENSBORO, N.C. - The LSU Track & Field teams enjoyed an outstanding day of qualifying in Thursday's opener at the 2013 NCAA East Preliminary Rounds as five Tigers and Lady Tigers earned their spot in the NCAA semifinals with their effort in field-event action held at Irwin Belk Track on the campus of North Carolina A&T University.

An additional 12 athletes advanced to national quarterfinals to be run on the track on Friday as the 100-meter dash, 400-meter dash, 800-meter run and 400-meter hurdles on Day 2 in Greensboro.

Seniors Damar Forbes and Brittany Porter each earned their spot in the national semifinals for the men's and women's long jump, while seniors Joseph Caraway and Thomas Reinecke advanced in the men's pole vault and sophomore Rodney Brown punched his ticket to Eugene, Ore., in the men's discus throw.

The semifinal and final rounds of the 2013 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships will run June 5-8 at Oregon's Hayward Field in just two weeks. The Top 12 finishers for each open and relay event here at the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds will earn the right to compete for a national championship in their season finale in Eugene.

"This meet is all about doing what you need to do to make it to the next round. I thought both our teams did a great job of that today," said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. "We got off to a fast start today with Rodney and Damar making it through in some early field events, and really just continued that throughout the afternoon and into the evening with the events we had on the track."

Brown got the ball rolling for the Tigers with a runner-up finish in the men's discus in the first event of the meet as he is set to make his first career semifinals appearance at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.

Brown took an early lead in the competition by throwing a series-best of 192 feet, 5 inches on his second attempt of the third flight to lock up a coveted Top 12 spot for qualification in the NCAA semifinals. He dropped back into second place overall when Rutgers standout James Plummer posted a leading mark of 201-0 in the third round for the top throw of the day.

Brown is poised to become the fifth LSU Tiger in program history to earn All-America honors in the men's discus throw and the first in 15 seasons since Alex Forst during the 1998 season. The Tiger sophomore ranks No. 3 in the NCAA rankings this season with his personal best of 206-3 set in a runner-up finish at the Texas Relays on March 30.

Forbes joined Brown in the national semifinals as he followed his teammate with a fourth-place finish in the men's long jump after posting a top wind-aided mark of 25-0 ½ on his opening jump.

Like Brown, Forbes took the early lead with his opening jump of 25-0 ½w and held strong in third place heading into the finals after he was overtaken by Virginia Tech's Jeff Artis-Gray with a wind-aided 25-8 ¼ and Ohio State's Mike Hartfield jumped 25-1 ¾ in the second round. While passing his final three jumps, Forbes dropped into fourth place after East Tennessee State's Tyler Stepp jumped 25-6 ¾ on his final attempt.

Forbes, the reigning SEC Outdoor champion, has his eye on a first career national championship as the NCAA's No. 1-ranked long jumper for 2013 after taking the conference crown with a career-best wind-aided effort of 27-4 ½ in the SEC final. Forbes has won the NCAA silver medal in the event in each of the last four NCAA Championships between the indoor and outdoor seasons.

Porter will join Forbes in the long jump field in Eugene as she secured her spot in the national semifinals with an eighth-place finish in women's qualifying on Thursday.

Porter, who was the No. 28-ranked long jumper on the women's side entering the meet, won the second flight and advanced to the final in sixth place overall with a wind-aided mark of 20-1 on her second attempt for the preliminary round. She was only passed by two other jumpers in the final three rounds while finishing in eighth place to advance to the NCAA semifinals for the second-straight season.

Two Tiger seniors are also set to make their first semifinals appearance in the men's pole vault as Caraway and Reinecke were among 12 vaulters in the field clearing the bar at 17-2 ¾. Reinecke took just one attempt to clear 17-2 ¾ and tie for fifth place, while Caraway went up and over the bar on his second attempt to punch their ticket to Eugene.

"We had a number of athletes step it up today to put our teams in a good position as we continue here this weekend," Shaver said. "Getting five through to the semifinals in the field events is big for our team once we go to Eugene, and of course, we advanced well on the track today. That will give us a great opportunity to add to our numbers when we come back tomorrow."

Thursday's opening day of competition at the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds also featured eight Lady Tigers and four Tigers advancing to the quarterfinal rounds of their respective events to run on Friday afternoon.

Juniors Nikita Tracey and Shana-Gaye Tracey and sophomore Chanice Chase each advanced to Friday's quarterfinal in the women's 400-meter hurdles with their performance in Thursday's opener on the track.

Nikita Tracey led the way as the third-fastest heat winner of the day with a strong run of 57.73 seconds to advance to her first NCAA quarterfinal. Chase claimed automatic qualification as the third-fastest finisher in the third heat with a time of 58.97, and Shana-Gaye Tracey advanced on time after running 58.82 for fourth place in the fifth preliminary heat.

The Tigers and Lady Tigers then turned up the heat in the first round of the 100-meter dash as five of their six athletes earned their lane in Friday's quarterfinals at Irwin Belk Track.

They were led by three heat winners for the evening as senior Kimberlyn Duncan raced to the finish line in 11.23 (+1.7) to win the second heat and junior Takeia Pinckney matched her seasonal-best wind-aided time of 11.41 (+2.3) to win the sixth heat of the women's 100 meters and sophomore Aaron Ernest sped across the finish line in 10.21 (+1.9) to win the first heat of the men's 100 meters and advance to the quarterfinals.

Juniors Shermund Allsop (10.43) and Toshika Sylvester (11.57) each grabbed the last qualifying spot into the quarterfinals of both the men's and women's 100 meters with fifth-place finishes in their respective heats.

Tiger freshman Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake also raced to a wind-legal PR of 10.43 (+1.3) for fourth place in the fourth men's heat, but fell just short of Allsop's qualifying time for the men's quarterfinal.

Sophomore Quincy Downing and freshman Darrell Bush then joined their teammates in the quarterfinals of the men's 400-meter dash as Downing nearly matched his lifetime PR in the event and Bush was strong in his NCAA Championships debut in the 400 meters. Downing clocked a seasonal-best of 46.19 for third place in the sixth heat, nearly matching his PR of 46.18 set in the NCAA quarterfinals a year ago in Jacksonville, Fla., and Bush ran 46.54 for second place in the fourth heat to advance to Friday's quarterfinals.

Senior Charlene Lipsey and junior Natoya Goule then wrapped up Thursday's qualifying action by running the two fastest times in the women's 800 meters to win their first-round heats. Lipsey lined up in the first heat and posted the top time of the day at 2 minutes, 4.25 seconds, while Goule followed by winning the fourth heat in 2:04.50 for the second-fastest time of the opening round.

 

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BATON ROUGE, La. - LSU and Arkansas will play on what has become its traditional Friday slot in 2013 as the two teams will square off in Tiger Stadium on Nov. 29.

The Southeastern Conference announced Wednesday the kickoff for the Tigers and the Razorbacks is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. and the game will be televised on CBS.

Since Arkansas joined the SEC in 1992, the Tigers and Razorbacks have played 21 times with 16 of those games coming on a Friday. The teams played the Friday after Thanksgiving for 13 straight years from 1996 to 2008 before moving to Saturday in 2009 and 2010.

The teams played on Friday for the past two years, which included LSU's 20-13 win over Arkansas in Fayetteville to cap the 2012 regular season.

 

 

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BATON ROUGE - Vanderbilt and LSU are the favorites to win this week's Southeastern Conference tournament after mowing through regular-season play with uncommon ease.

The real intrigue, however, is the new single-elimination format in the opening round of the tournament.

Instead of the usual double-elimination format, the league's coaches say the sudden-death round was done because of scheduling and the expansion of the tournament field from 10 to 12 teams.

The top four seeds receive a bye to the second round, where double-elimination play begins.

Several teams with borderline NCAA tournament hopes will play crucial games during the opening knockout round, including Auburn and Texas A&M.

Play begins Tuesday morning at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium in Hoover, Ala.

No. 1 seed Vanderbilt set an SEC record with 26 league wins this season.

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - LSU senior first baseman Mason Katz was named Monday to the 2013 SEC Baseball Community Service Team by the conference office.

The SEC sponsors Community Service Teams for all 20 league-sponsored sports. The Community Service Team looks to highlight an athlete from each school who gives back to his community in superior service activities.

Katz, a native of Harahan, La. who received his LSU bachelor's degree in sports administration last Friday, has been the leader of the baseball program's outstanding community service effort for the past season.

He participates in children's hospital visits in the Baton Rouge area, meeting with patients and their families while signing autographs, posing for pictures and lifting their spirits. Katz visited Baton Rouge schools for "Read Across America" Day, encouraging students to expand their education through reading.

Katz participated in the Buddy Walk in Baton Rouge - the event is conducted to promote awareness and inclusion of people with Down Syndrome - and he attended the Blue Ribbon Soiree to raise funds in the fight against prostate cancer.

He annually takes part in the Halloween "Boozar" at LSU, as he and his teammates distribute candy to children in the local community. Katz served food to the homeless at Thanksgiving, and he volunteered at the Baton Rouge Food Bank.

Katz has also helped to conduct youth baseball clinics throughout south Louisiana, and he has worked as a volunteer with the Miracle League, a non-competitive baseball offering for children with physical or mental disabilities.

 

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BATON ROUGE, La. - LSU senior outfielder Raph Rhymes was named SEC Player of the Week Monday by the conference office in Birmingham, Ala.

Rhymes led the second-ranked Tigers to three wins in four games last week, including an SEC series victory versus Ole Miss. He batted .455 (5-for-11) in four games with one double, two homers and six RBI.

Rhymes' two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning Friday erased a 4-3 Ole Miss lead and lifted the Tigers to a 5-4 victory that clinched the series and allowed LSU to set single-season school records for regular-season wins (48) and SEC wins (23).

Rhymes also had an inside-the-park homer in LSU's 7-1 victory over the Rebels on Thursday night, the third inside-the-park dinger in the five-season history of the New Alex Box Stadium.

Rhymes, the 2012 SEC Player of the Year, is hitting .349 this season with 14 doubles, one triple, four homers, 42 RBI and 49 runs.

 

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Baton Rouge- It was a dissapointing end to the season for the LSU softball team.  The Tigers, playing in front of the home fans in the NCAA regional, came up short with two losses to in state rival Louisiana- Lafayette.   Ragin' Cajun pitcher Jordan Wallace was sensational all weekend.  The right hander did not give up a run in any of her 3 appearances.  It was all highlited by back to back shutout performances against the Tigers, 3-0 on Saturday and 1-0 Sunday.  ULL will advance to play 8 seed Michigan in the next round.  The Tigers finished the season with a record of 42-16.

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Baton Rouge, La- The LSU softball team will live to play another day.  The Tigers avoided elimination in the NCAA regionals by thrashing Central Connecticut State 11-0.  LSU lost 3-0 in the winners bracket earlier in the day to Louisiana-Lafayette.  Now, the Tigers and Ragin' Cajuns will meet again tomorrow at 1pm.  LSU must  win to avoid elimination.  If they can come away with a victory, the two teams will play a second game later in the day.  The winner of that contest would move on in the NCAA tournament, the loser will see its season come to an end.

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Baton Rouge- Despite scoring 7 runs in the 3rd inning, the LSU baseball team could not pull off the weekend sweep over Ole Miss.  The Tigers had a 7-2 lead after 3, but allowed the Rebels to score 3 in the 4th and 5 in the 7th innning to rally for the 11-9 win.  LSU starter Ryan Eades pitched  4 innings and gave up 5 of those runs. The Tigers finished the regular season with a 48-8 overall record, 23-7 in SEC play.  Next up, a trip to Hoover for the SEC Tournament.

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Baton Rouge- The Tiger softball team defeated Central Connecticut State in the opening round of the NCAA regionals at Tiger Park.  LSU jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the top of the first, but  Central Connecticut State came storming back to tie it at 2 in the 3rd.  The score remained tied until a rbi single by Alison Falcon in the 5th inning.  The hit allowed A.J. Andrews to cross the plate for what proved to be the winning run.  LSU pitcher Ashley Czechner paced the Tigers from the mound recording a career high 15 strikeouts.  The Tigers return to action Saturday at noon.  They will face Louisiana- Lafayette in a matchup of day 1 winners.

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BATON ROUGE - LSU issued 64 diplomas to its student-athletes on Friday as the school held its annual Spring Commencement.

Of the 64 degrees that were handed out, 57 were undergraduate degrees with the remaining seven being for graduate school.

"Congratulations to the class of 2013," said Kenneth Miles, who serves as Assistant Vice Chancellor and Executive Director of the Cox Communications Academic Center for Student-Athletes. "We, in the Cox Communications Academic Center for Student-Athletes, are extremely proud of them and their accomplishments. Even though they are now graduates, the impressions they left on us are as heartfelt as the impressions we left on them. We truly wish all of them success in their future endeavors."

Among the graduates on Friday include seven members of the LSU baseball team, four of which are still on the roster for the Tigers.

Baseball team members who received their degree were pitcher Kevin Berry (sports administration), pitcher Joey Bourgeois (interdisciplinary studies), first baseman Mason Katz (sports administration), outfielder Raph Rhymes (sports administration), undergraduate assistant coach and former first baseman Blake Dean (interdisciplinary studies), equipment manager and former infielder Matt Fury (chemical engineering) and former catcher Jordy Snikeris (finance).

The LSU basketball programs were represented at graduation by Adrienne Webb (sports administration) and Bianca Lutley (general studies) on the women's side and Andrew Del Piero (sociology) on the men's side. Webb helped lead the Lady Tigers to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament this year by averaging over 19 points per game, while Lutley averaged a career-best 10.2 points per game.

Del Piero, who gained fame as the former LSU band member turned basketball player, started 22 games for the Tigers in 2012-13 and averaged 4.3 points and 3.1 rebounds a contest.

Nine members of the LSU football team graduated with a Bachelor's degree, including starting tight end for the 2012 Tigers Chase Clement (general studies). Former punter DJ. Howard (business administration) and tight end/deep snapper Alex Russian (business administration) both received their Master's degree.

Lauren Carleton, who is the most decorated distance runner in the history of the LSU women's track program, received her Master's degree in business administration after posting a 4.0 grade point average. Carleton, who was a University Medalist in 2011 as the graduate with the top grade point average in her class, was crowned the 2013 SEC Indoor Champion in the 5,000-meter run and she has set three school records as a senior this year.

 

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