BATON ROUGE – Lady Tiger senior Tori Bliss was honored Tuesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association for her school-record-setting shot put victory in her 2015 season opener on Friday night at the LSU Indoor Invitational while being named the NCAA Division I National Women’s Athlete of the Week.
Bliss established herself as an early-season NCAA-title contender in the women’s shot put while smashing LSU’s 21-year-old indoor school record with a winning mark of 57 feet, 2 ¾ inches on Friday.
The reigning NCAA Outdoor silver medalist claimed her first victory of the season by nearly nine feet and catapulted herself into the No. 1 spot in the NCAA rankings following the opening weekend of the 2015 season. Bliss broke former NCAA discus champion Danyel Mitchell’s indoor school record of 55-10 ½ that was set back in 1994 while raising her own indoor personal best by more than four feet.
Even more impressive than Bliss’ winning mark was her series as she posted four throws that improved upon her previous indoor best of 53-1 entering the meet. She wasted no time in raising her own indoor best with an opening mark of 54-8 ¾ in the first round, improved her PR to 55-4 ¼ in the fourth round and then put back-to-back school records of 56-8 ½ in the fifth round and 57-2 ¾ in the sixth round of the final.
Bliss has carried her momentum from the end of her junior season outdoors in 2014 when she scored the NCAA Outdoor silver medal with a lifetime best of 57-4 ¼ that also broke her own outdoor school record.
The Portage, Indiana, native has now set a school record in each of her last two collegiate shot put appearances for the Lady Tigers while finishing as the national runner-up at the NCAA Outdoor Championships with an all-time best of 57-4 ¼ on June 14, 2014, and taking the title at the LSU Indoor Invitational on Friday night with an indoor best of 57-2 ¾.
Bliss joined Akron’s pole vault star Shawn Barber as the USTFCCCA National Athletes of the Week for NCAA Division I this week as Barber claimed the men’s award after clearing 19 feet with a mark of 19-0 ¼ for what is the No. 4-ranked performance indoors in collegiate history. Barber won the men’s pole vault at the Akron Pole Vault Convention, taking the title over 2014 NCAA Outdoor champion Sam Kendricks of Nike.