The Tigers featured a balanced attack while taking home the fourth-place team trophy from the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships a season ago after also earning a top-10 team finish with a tie for eighth place nationally during the 2014 indoor season. Leading the way were nine All-Americans in such event areas as the sprints, hurdles, relays and throws as the Tigers again cemented their position as one of the top teams in collegiate track and field.
They will follow that formula for success again in 2014 as they return seven of their nine All-Americans from last year to help fuel a national championship run during the 2015 campaign. Led by the likes of seniors Aaron Ernest, Vernon Norwood, Quincy Downing, Rodney Brown and their powerful relay teams as NCAA title contenders, the pieces are in place for the Tigers to contend for their first national championship since the 2004 season.
First in a 10-part series previews the men’s sprints and relays that are sure to burn up the track during the 2015 season.
Men’s Sprints & Relays
The foundation of the LSU Track & Field program has been built on its success in the spring and relays as the Tigers feature one of the more talented squads each year in their quest for a national championship.
This year’s squad will be no different as LSU’s sprint group is poised to score points at the NCAA Championships in each event ranging from the 100 meters, 200 meters and 400 meters to both the 4×100-meter and 4×400-meter relays.
And the Tigers feature a senior-laden squad in 2015 as national title contenders Aaron Ernest, Vernon Norwood and Quincy Downing return for their final season in the purple and gold in the wake of an outstanding 2014 campaign while leading the squad to a pair of top-10 finishes at the NCAA Championships.
Ernest is the most decorated Tiger returning to the squad this season as an eight-time All-American and six-time All-SEC performer in his three previous seasons in Baton Rouge. He will line up as a national championship contender in both the 100 meters and 200 meters while he will also lead LSU’s title-contending 4×100-meter relay team during the 2015 season.
A former World Junior Championships silver medalist in both the 100 meters and 200 meters, Ernest returns for his senior season after earning a pair of All-America honors last season when he earned a fourth-place finish nationally in the 200-meter final and ran the second leg in an NCAA bronze-medal-winning sprint relay team a year ago.
Not only that, but Ernest just missed qualifying for the 100-meter final at the NCAA meet for the third-straight season as the ninth-place finisher in the national semifinal to highlight his junior season. He has captured a career-best seventh-place finish nationally in the 100-meter dash during his sophomore season with the Tigers in 2013.
Ernest lines up during the 2015 season with personal bests of 10.04 wind-aided and 10.17 wind-legal in the 100 meters and 20.53 indoors and 20.14 outdoors in the 200 meters.
Also returning with Ernest from the Tigers’ All-American sprint relay team is sophomore Tremayne Acy, who ran the third leg on the team that raced to the NCAA bronze medal last year. The duo also helped the Tigers take home All-SEC honors as the SEC Outdoor silver medalists in the event while clocking a 2014 seasonal best of 38.68 in the conference final.
The Tigers’ 2014 season was certainly highlighted by winning the national championship indoors in the 4×400-meter relay, and they will line up as title contenders again this spring as they return all four legs from the squad that won the fourth NCAA Indoor crown in program history.
Norwood was a revelation in his debut season with the Tigers as he solidified his status as one of the elite 400-meter runners in the NCAA ranks in 2014, earning four All-America and four All-SEC honors with his performance a year ago.
Norwood anchored the Tigers to their NCAA Indoor title with a 45.16-second split on the anchor leg as he teamed with Downing and returning juniors Darrell Bush and Cyril Grayson in a gold-medal-winning performance at the NCAA Championships. They also climbed the podium in the 2014 outdoor season as the NCAA Outdoor bronze medalists in the mile relay.
Norwood was nearly crowned the national champion in the 400-meter dash as the NCAA Indoor silver medalist and NCAA Outdoor bronze medalist in the event a year ago, finishing with personal bests of 45.39 indoors and 45.02 outdoors as one of the NCAA’s top-ranked sprinters.
Downing was also one of the surprise performers in the NCAA in his first full season as a 400-meter hurdler as he capped his junior season as the NCAA Outdoor bronze medalist in the event last spring. Downing broke 50 seconds in the event for the first time in his career with a run of 49.97 in the national final to earn All-America honors as the third-place finisher nationally.
The Cleveland, Ohio, native will again compete for All-America honors in the 400-meter hurdles again this spring and serve as a key member of LSU’s 4×400-meter relay team in 2014.
Bush and Grayson have each earned four All-America honors as members of LSU’s mile relay team in their first two seasons with the program in 2013 and 2014, and they will again team with Norwood and Downing in forming one of the NCAA’s top teams this spring. Bush boasts an impressive personal best of 46.15 in the open 400 meters, while Grayson will line up in his junior season with a lifetime best of 46.45 in his collegiate career.
Each qualified for an SEC final in the 400-meter dash for the first time in their collegiate career a year ago with Bush earning a seventh-place finish at the SEC Indoor Championships and Grayson capturing an eighth-place finish at the SEC Outdoor Championships in 2014.