BATON ROUGE – The LSU track and field program attracts many of the nation’s premier athletes each recruiting season as it competes with the goal of winning a national championship each year, and that fact has proven true yet again as 12 athletes have signed National Letters of Intent as part of the Class of 2011.
LSU head coach Dennis Shaver announced Tuesday the signing of six Tigers and six Lady Tigers that are ready to join the program and compete in an LSU uniform for the first time during the 2012 season.
The Tigers have signed six prep standouts to National Letters of Intent, including thrower Rodney Brown (Navasota, Texas), middle distance runner Quincy Downing (Dayton, Ohio), pole vaulter Andreas Duplantis (Lafayette, La.), short sprinter Aaron Ernest (New Orleans, La.), high jumper William LeBlanc (Cecilia, La.) and thrower Jeremy Tuttle (Sierra Vista, Ariz.).
The Lady Tigers will welcome the likes of thrower Tori Bliss (Portage, Ind.), heptathlete Alex Gochenour (Missouri Valley, Iowa), hurdler Shanekia Hall (Kingston, Jamaica), middle distance star Samantha Levin (St. Louis, Mo.), and sprinters Montenae Roye-Speight and Kendra White of St. Louis, Mo.
Shaver believes this year’s early recruiting haul has helped address specific needs for each event area that is sure to provide the talent and depth necessary to compete for championships for years to come.
“There’s not only great talent with this group of recruits, but there’s great balance that will impact each of the event areas on our team as early as the 2012 season,” Shaver said. “We’re very excited of the potential we see in this class. But as is the case each season, this is just the beginning for us. We’ll keep working to complete this class throughout the spring and summer and leading into the fall semester.”
2011 LSU Track & Field Signing Class
| Women | ||||
| Tori Bliss |
Throws |
6-0 |
Portage, Ind. (Portage HS) | |
| Alex Gochenour |
Hurdles/Multi |
6-0 |
Missouri Valley, Iowa (Logan Magnolia Senior HS) | |
| Shanekia Hall |
Hurdles |
5-9 |
Kingston, Jamaica (St. Hugh HS/Essex CC) | |
| Samantha Levin |
Middle Distance |
5-5 |
St. Louis, Mo. (Ladue Horton Watkins HS) | |
| Montenae Roye-Speight |
Sprints |
5-5 |
St. Louis, Mo. (Ladue Horton Watkins HS) | |
| Kendra White |
Sprints |
5-8 |
St. Louis, Mo. (McCluer North HS) | |
| Men | ||||
| Rodney Brown |
Throws |
6-0 |
Chappell Hill, Texas (Navasota HS) | |
| Quincy Downing |
Middle Distance |
6-1 |
Dayton, Ohio (Glenville HS) | |
| Andreas Duplantis |
Jumps |
5-8 |
Lafayette, La. (Lafayette HS) | |
| Aaron Ernest |
Sprints |
6-0 |
New Orleans, La. (Homewood HS) | |
| William LeBlanc |
Jumps |
6-5 |
Cecilia, La. (Cecilia HS) | |
| Jeremy Tuttle |
Throws |
6-3 |
Sierra Vista, Ariz. (Buena HS) | |
Duplantis and LeBlanc are two Louisiana natives who are preparing to join the Tigers in fall training after establishing themselves among the nation’s premier jumps recruits during the 2011 indoor season.
Each currently ranks No. 4 in the country in their respective events as LeBlanc has cleared a seasonal-best and lifetime personal-best mark of 6 feet, 11 inches in the high jump and Duplantis has also set a seasonal best and personal best of 16-8 in the pole vault during the 2011 indoor campaign.
LeBlanc, a prospect from Cecilia High School, established his lifetime PR with a clearance at 6-11 to win the Louisiana High School Athletic Association Division I indoor state championship in the high jump for the meet held Feb. 19 at LSU’s Carl Maddox Field House. That effort also shattered the previous LHSAA Division I Indoor State Championships meet record of 6-8 by three inches.
Duplantis, the son of former LSU pole vaulter Greg Duplantis, has captured each of the last six Louisiana state championships in the pole vault while competing for Lafayette High School, including three-straight Division I indoor state titles from 2009-11 and three-straight Class 5A outdoor state titles from 2008-10 at the LHSAA state meet. He is one of the most prolific high school pole vaulters in state history.
Duplantis set his lifetime PR of 16-8 during the 2011 indoor season while finishing second place during a National Pole Vault Summit held in Reno, Nev., on Jan. 28. He is also a veteran of the 2009 IAAF World Youth Championships while competing for Sweden in Sudtirol, Italy.
By signing Brown and Tuttle to National Letters of Intent this year, the LSU throws group will receive an immediate contribution from two of the nation’s elite discus prospects in the Class of 2011.
Brown, a prospect of Navasota High School near College Station, Texas, returns for his senior season this spring as the No. 2-ranked discus recruit in the country for the Class of 2011 following his performance in 2010. He posted a seasonal-best and personal-best throw of 198-7 to rank No. 2 nationally for high school juniors and No. 9 for athletes of all classifications nationwide in the discus event in 2010.
Brown threw 185-5 to win the discus silver medal at the 2010 USATF National Junior Olympics hosted at Sacramento State University in Sacramento, Calif. The 2010 Texas Class 3A state champion also posted a standout mark of 191-7 in the event during the 2010 outdoor campaign.
Tuttle, who will join the Tigers following his prep career at Buena High School, is a potential star in more than one throwing event as he boasts personal bests of 186-7 in the discus and 200-4 in the javelin.
Tuttle set both of his personal bests during his junior campaign in 2010, in which he captured the Arizona Class 5A state championship in the discus event. Also a three-time Arizona Class 5A state runner-up with his prep career, Tuttle was crowned the intermediate boys discus gold medalist with the 2009 USA Youth Outdoor Track & Field Championships held at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, Mich.
LSU has also added depth to the men’s sprints and middle distance groups by inking Downing and Ernest as members of the program’s recruiting Class of 2011.
Ernest ended the 2010 outdoor season as the nation’s No. 7-ranked performer in his class in the 100-meter dash while clocking a seasonal best and personal best of 10.48 seconds in the event. His performance also ranked No. 14 nationally among all classifications. Ernest also clocked a top wind-aided time of 10.47 for a second-place finish at the Alabama Class 6A state meet while running for Homewood High School.
Downing will join the LSU program following his prep career at Glenville High School. He has proven to be one of the nation’s elite 800-meter runners while setting a lifetime best of 1 minute, 51.99 seconds in a gold-medal winning performance at the 2009 USATF World Youth Track & Field Trials. That win earned Downing the right to represent the United States at the 2009 IAAF World Youth Championships.
Downing, who also owns a personal-best time of 47.77 in the 400-meter dash, competed in the 800-meter run at the USATF Junior Outdoor Championships and USATF Youth Outdoor Championships in 2010.
“We are very pleased with the quality we have signed this year for the men’s program,” Shaver said. “We feel like we’ve addressed some very specific needs across all of the event areas with this class. They have the opportunity to come in and make an immediate contribution to our program next season.”
The Lady Tigers’ recruiting Class of 2011 is highlighted by a pair of athletes who rank No. 1 nationally in their respective events as Hall is the No. 1-ranked hurdler in the junior college ranks and Gochenour is the No. 1-ranked heptathlete at the prep level for the 2011 recruiting season.
Hall has captured two-straight National Junior College Athletic Association indoor national titles with the sprint hurdles while competing for the famed program at Essex County College.
Hall, a native of Kingston, Jamaica, has set PRs in both the 55-meter hurdles and 60-meter hurdles during the national final in each of the last two seasons, running an 8.37 in the final of the 60 hurdles in 2010 and a 7.71 in the finals of the 55-meter hurdles in 2011. Hall also recorded a lifetime best of 13.87 for the 100 hurdles during her freshman season at Essex County College in 2010.
Gochenour, a product of Logan Magnolia Senior High School, is the top all-around athlete in the country, as well as one of the elite athletes worldwide based on her performance in the heptathlon during her junior season in 2010 in which she scored a personal best of 5,300 points to rank No. 1 in the United States.
The Iowan earned the right to represent the United States at the 2010 IAAF World Junior Championships in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada, after posting 5,300 points for her gold-medal winning performance in the heptathlon at the 2010 USA Junior Outdoor Track & Field Championships held in Des Moines. She then scored 5,260 points en route to a 10th-place finish at the IAAF World Junior Championships.
Gochenour is also an accomplished sprinter and hurdler during her prep career as she has set PRs of 24.48 in the 200 meters and 13.89 in the 100 hurdles while winning nine career Iowa Class 1A state titles.
Shaver and his coaching staff have also raided the top talent in St. Louis during the 2011 recruiting season by adding White and Roye-Speight to the sprint group and Levin to the middle distance group.
Both Levin and Roye-Speight hail from Ladue Horton Watkins High School, where they have established themselves as two of the premier young talents in the United States in their events. Roye-Speight joins the Lady Tigers with a personal best of 54.35 in the 400-meter dash and Levin has signed with the squad with personal bests of 2:09.27 in the 800-meter run and 4:39.80 in the 1,500 meters.
Levin was a star for the St. Louis Lightning club squad at the 2010 USATF Youth Outdoor Track & Field Championships as she set both personal bests in gold-medal winning performances in the young women’s division of the 800 meters and 1,500 meters Her PR of 2:09.27 in the 800-meter final finished the summer as the nation’s No. 6-ranked performance of the season for a member of the Class of 2011.
Likewise, Roye-Speight also set a personal best at the USATF Youth Outdoor Championships last season as she clocked 54.35 to take home the silver medal with a second-place finish in the young women’s 400-meter dash. She also ran 54.66 to take ninth place at the 2010 USA Junior Outdoor Championships.
The only 400-meter runner to finish ahead of Roye-Speight during the final at the USTAF Youth Outdoor meet was White, who clocked a personal best of her own at 53.72 to take home the gold medal.
A product of McCluer North High School, White finished the 2010 season as the No. 9-ranked 400-meter runner nationwide for her graduating class. She also teamed with both Levin and Roye-Speight to lead the St. Louis Lightning club team to a gold-medal winning performance in the 4×400-meter relay after setting a time of 3:42.51 in the final at the USATF Youth Outdoor Championships.
The trio helped lead their St. Louis Lightning club team to the national championship at the 2010 USATF Youth Outdoor Championships while scoring 89 points during the meet.
The Lady Tigers are also sure to receive an immediate impact in the throws by signing Bliss to a National Letter of Intent as the Portage, Ind., native will join the program next season as one of the most highly-touted shot putters to come out of the prep ranks for the Class of 2011.
Bliss, who has enjoyed a tremendous career at Portage High School, is the reigning New Balance Outdoor Nationals champion in the shot put after unleashing a winning mark of 48-0 ¾ at the meet a year ago held at North Carolina A&T University in Greensboro, N.C. She actually set personal bests in 2010 of 48-8 for the shot put and 144-2 in the discus in sweeping Indiana state titles both events.
Her seasonal-best and personal-best mark of 48-8 finished the 2010 season ranked No. 2 nationwide for a member of the Class of 2011. In fact, she actually ranked No.1 for her classification as a sophomore when she finished the 2009 season with a seasonal-best mark of 48-2.
“Just like with our men’s recruiting class this season, I feel like we’ve done a great job of signing a group of young women that will flourish in our program,” Shaver said. “This is a very talented group, but they’ll benefit even more by not having to come in and feel the pressure of being counted upon to score all of our points at the championship meets. That’s going to really benefit them in their development.
“But make no mistake about it, we feel like this is a group that has the potential to come in and really help up win a championship and continue that tradition that we’ve built and established at LSU.”