BATON ROUGE – With months of fall training and preseason preparation now in the rearview mirror, members of the LSU Track & Field program are ready to kick off their 2015 indoor season on Friday afternoon when the Tigers and Lady Tigers play host to the LSU Indoor Invitational beginning at 2:30 p.m. CT at the Carl Maddox Field House.
Fans can take in an afternoon matinee as the action kicks off at 2:30 p.m. with the first field events of the day in the men’s and women’s weight throws. The first preliminary races on the track will follow at 3:30 p.m. CT with the championship finals scheduled to begin at 4:55 p.m. to kick off the evening session.
Delta Timing will provide live results from the meet as fans can follow the action at http://www.deltatiming.com/. Fans can also receive live updates from the LSU Indoor Invitational throughout the afternoon at the Carl Maddox Field House by following @LSUTrackField on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/lsutrackfield and by liking LSU Track & Field on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/lsutrackfield.
The meet features an in-state flair as McNeese State, Nicholls, Northwestern State, Southeastern Louisiana and Louisiana-Lafayette will be competing, as well as Hinds Community College and Texas-Tyler.
The Tigers and Lady Tigers are ready to start their march toward the 2015 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships as they now have just nine weeks to prepare for the national meet. This year’s NCAA meet will be hosted by the University of Arkansas as the competition returns to the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville from March 13-14.
The Tigers cracked the Top 10 in a tie for eighth place in the final men’s team standings at the NCAA Indoor Championships a year ago when senior Vernon Norwood scored the silver medal as the national runner-up in the 400-meter dash before anchoring the Tigers to the national championship in the 4×400-meter relay. LSU’s 18 points earned the program its eighth Top 10 team finish in nine seasons at the NCAA Indoor meet.
The Tigers actually return all four legs from their NCAA-title-winning relay team as Norwood is joined by fellow senior Quincy Downing and juniors Darrell Bush and Cyril Grayson for the 2015 season.
The Lady Tigers wrapped up the 2014 indoor season by tying for 12th place in the final women’s team standings at the NCAA Indoor Championships when All-Americans Jasmin Stowers and Lynnika Pitts captured NCAA bronze medals in the 60-meter hurdles and triple jump, respectively, and Denise Hinton earned a fifth-place finish nationally in the weight throw to account for the team’s 16 points.
While Stowers, Pitts and Hinton each wrapped up their collegiate careers as seniors a year ago, many Tigers and Lady Tigers return to open up in LSU’s 2015 season opener at the LSU Invitational on Friday.
Among the Tiger standouts highlighting the meet are seniors Rodney Brown (weight throw), Andreas Duplantis (pole vault), Aaron Ernest (60 meters), Julian Parker (800 meters), Philip Primeaux (5,000 meters), Joshua Thompson (60 hurdles), Jeremy Tuttle (weight throw); and sophomores Blair Henderson (mile) and Jonathan Pitt (triple jump).
Among the Lady Tigers who will open up their season in Friday’s events include seniors Tori Bliss (shot put) and Mariah Georgetown (60 hurdles); juniors Chanice Chase (60 hurdles) and Andria Aguilar (800 meters); and sophomores Nataliyah Friar (60 meters), Rushell Harvey (200 meters), Jada Martin (60 meters) and Morgan Schuetz (mile).
Other members of LSU’s heralded recruiting class in 2014 are also ready to make their collegiate debuts with the Tigers and Lady Tigers this weekend, including true freshmen Mikiah Brisco (60 meters), Gabby Figueroa (weight throw), Bria Druilhet (triple jump), Daeshon Gordon (60 hurdles), Keterra Harris (400 meters), Aleia Hobbs (60 meters), Danielle Phillips (60 hurdles), Sidnie Wilder (weight throw) and Jack Wilkes (800 meters).
After playing host to the LSU Indoor Invitational on Friday, the Tigers and Lady Tigers will make their annual trip to Birmingham, Alabama, to compete at the Auburn Indoor Invitational being held on Saturday, Jan. 17, at the Birmingham Crossplex. They will then follow by competing at Kentucky’s Rod McCravy Invitational being held Jan. 23-24 at the Nutter Field House in Lexington.