Much will be written heading into the 2015 season about which Lady Tigers will step up to fill the void left behind by the departures of such All-Americans as Denise Hinton, Lynnika Pitts, Jasmin Stowers and Nikita Tracey from last year’s squad. After all, they formed a senior class that accounted for 16 All-America selections during their respective careers in Baton Rouge that was capped with a sixth-place team finish during the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships to end the 2014 season.
But the Lady Tigers return the likes of NCAA Outdoor shot put silver medalist Tori Bliss and All-American hurdler Chanice Chase, as well as national hopefuls Nataliyah Friar, Jada Martin, Rebekah Wales and one of the nation’s top recruiting classes to reload for another NCAA run in 2015.
Seventh in a 10-part series previews a talented stable of women’s hurdlers who look to contend for All-America honors during the 2015 season.
Women’s Hurdles
The 2014 season closed the book on the careers of two of the NCAA’s elite hurdlers with seniors Jasmin Stowers and Nikita Tracey each earning All-America honors while leading the Lady Tigers to a Top 10 team finish in sixth place at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships last June.
Stowers was crowned the NCAA Indoor bronze medalist and school-record holder in the 60-meter hurdles indoors and the NCAA Outdoor silver medalist in the 100-meter hurdles outdoors to claim an impressive eight All-America honors during her four-year career as a Lady Tiger. Tracey went out with a fourth-place finish nationally in the 400-meter hurdles to earn her third career All-America accolade as one of the NCAA’s top performers in the event.
While the Lady Tigers will surely miss their firepower in the lineup when they line up at the NCAA Championships this spring, All-American Chanice Chase returns for her junior season as she guides a talented stable of hurdlers returning to the squad for the 2015 season.
Chase enjoyed a breakout sophomore season with the Lady Tigers in 2014 while capturing a first career All-America honor in the 400 hurdles as one of the nation’s leading performers in the event.
The Canadian international lined up alongside Tracey in the national final and followed her teammate with a fifth-place finish nationally in her debut at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Also the fifth-place finisher at the SEC Outdoor Championships, Chase ended her sophomore campaign by setting a personal best of 56.27 seconds in the event and will again line up as an All-America candidate in 2015.
Not only that, but Chase is also an NCAA hopeful in the 100-meter hurdles after setting her PR of 13.20 in the first round of qualifying at the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds a year ago to advance to the national quarterfinals of the event for the first time in her collegiate career.
Joining Chase in the NCAA quarterfinals a year ago was Bryiana Richardson, who qualified to run the 400-meter hurdles at the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds in her debut season with the Lady Tigers for 2014. Richardson followed the collegiate season by clocking a personal best of 58.61 in the event to earn a fifth-place finish in the final of the 400 hurdles at the USA Junior Championships.
Also returning to the squad as an NCAA Championships qualifier a year ago is senior Mariah Georgetown, who is coming off a junior season in which she set personal bests of 8.29 in the 60 hurdles indoors and 13.39 in the 100 hurdles outdoors. Georgetown was an SEC finalist in both hurdle events for 2014 before qualifying for the first round of the 100 hurdles at the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds.
Solidifying LSU’s strength in the hurdles this spring is an outstanding class of recruits that boasts the likes of incoming freshmen Mikiah Brisco (Baton Rouge, La.), Daeshon Gordon (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) and Kymber Payne (Compton, Calif.).
A decorated sprinter and hurdler from Baton Rouge Magnet High School who will compete in both disciplines at LSU, Brisco is a former IAAF World Youth Championships bronze medalist for the 100-meter hurdles and joins the program with a personal best of 13.87 in the event.
Gordon is one of the most highly-recruited hurdle prospects nationally out of Fort Lauderdale’s Northeast High School with personal bests of 13.61 in the 100 hurdles and 58.70 in the 400 hurdles as a youth. Gordon arrives on campus as a four-time Florida Class 4A state champion and two-time Jamaican junior champion in both hurdle events.
A product of the famed program at Long Beach Poly High School, Payne is a former Track & Field News High School All-American with bests of 13.80 in the 100 hurdles and 41.32 in the 300 hurdles set in her prep career.