BATON ROUGE -- A pair of top-ranked prep athletes highlights a list of four signees the LSU track and field team has received National Letters of Intents from to compete for the Tigers beginning in 2007, head coach Dennis Shaver announced Monday.

The group includes middle distance ace LaTavia Thomas, throwers Kim Williams and Preston Chatham and sprinter Kristina Davis.

"The signing of these quality high school athletes will help our teams a great deal next season since we will only graduate one from both the men's and women's team in 2006," said Shaver.

Thomas, a product of West Catholic High School in Philadelphia, is the country's top-ranked junior in the outdoor 800 meters with a personal best time of 2:06.76. Just as successful indoors, Thomas ranked second in 2005, clocking 2:07.1, a time that was just one-half second shy of Joetta Clark's U.S. Junior record in the event.

Thomas was also a member of the IAAF World Junior Teams in both 2004 and 2005, and competed at the World Junior Championships in 2004 and won the USATF Youth Outdoor title in 2005.

"LaTavia has excellent big meet experience and her coach, Tim Hickey, has done a tremendous job in planning her development. Both Coach Hickey and I feel she will continue to improve throughout her career at LSU under Coach (Mark) Elliott," said Shaver.

Williams, a native of Douglasville, Ga., comes to LSU ranked No. 1 in the country in the hammer and No. 2 in the weight throw with personal-best marks of 173-0 and 56-1 3/4, respectively. This past season, Williams won the weight throw title at the National Scholastic Indoor Championships and finished sixth in the hammer at the USATF Junior National Championships.

"I am excited to have a top female thrower joining our program," said Shaver. "Kim will help us continue to develop a deep and quality group in all event areas.  Coach (John) Woosley is looking forward to her arrival next fall."

Also bolstering the throws group is local product Preston Chatham of St. Paul's High School in Covington. Ranked No. 2 in the country in the javelin in 2003, and No. 3 in 2004, Chatham is considered the top high school javelin recruit in the country. A two-time USATF High School All-American, he holds school records in the javelin (217-5), shot put (53-10 1/2) and discus (163-5). He is a three-time all-parish and all-metro selection that has been named both the parish and metro MVP on two occasions.

"As a junior Preston recorded a throw that would have scored for the team at the SEC meet. Coach Woosley has watched him throughout his career at St. Paul's and looks for him to contribute greatly throughout his career at LSU," said Shaver.

Rounding out the list of signees is Kristina Davis, a short sprinter out of James Logan High School in Vallejo, Calif. Davis is ranked seventh in the country in the 100-meter dash, an event which she owns a personal best of 11.56 seconds. In addition, she owns PRs of 23.80 in the 200 meters and 7.6 in the 60-meter dash.

"I am excited to have a top female sprinter joining our program from the state of California," said Shaver. "Kristina has always wanted to attend LSU and I am very glad we could finalize her signing to attend."