BATON ROUGE – The LSU Track & Field takes great pride in its community service efforts throughout the year, and members of the Tiger and Lady Tiger throws crew are the latest to take time out of their fall training schedules to visit the children at Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital in Baton Rouge on Saturday afternoon.
The athletes went from room-to-room to visit with patients and their families, while also taking pictures, signing autographs, playing games and doing everything they could to brighten their day.
There were 11 members of the throws crew who visited Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital on Saturday, including returning All-Americans Tori Bliss and Rodney Brown, as well as program veterans David Collins, Garret LeBouef, Philip Moody, Rebekah Wales and Doren Welch; and first-year recruits Patrick Geers, Gabby Figueroa, Marvalyn Vernon and Sidnie Wilder.
“It’s a humbling experience getting to see the kids and hang out with them,” Bliss said following their visit. “It brightens their day, and their smiles make us smile. It’s a lot of fun for all of us.”
Both Bliss and Brown are school-record holders in their respective events in the wake of historic junior seasons in the spring of 2014. Bliss was crowned the NCAA Outdoor Silver Medalist in the women’s shot put after smashing her own outdoor school record with a seasonal-best throw of 57 feet, 4 ¼ inches at the 2014 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Brown, the 2013 NCAA Outdoor fourth-place finisher in the men’s discus throw, unleashed a school-record and meet-record throw of 210-10 to win the men’s discus title at the 120th Penn Relays last April.