BATON ROUGE – After clocking a pair of NCAA-leading performances in a sweep of 800-meter and distance medley relay titles at the Auburn Indoor Invitational on Saturday, Lady Tiger sophomore Morgan Schuetz picked up the SEC Women’s Runner of the Week award for her efforts in Tuesday’s announcement by the league office.
Schuetz has been named an SEC Athlete of the Week for the first time in her collegiate career, while it marks the second-straight week for a Lady Tiger to be recognized to open the 2015 indoor season.
Senior shot putter Tori Bliss and freshman sprinter and hurdler Mikiah Brisco were honored as SEC Athletes of the Week following their season-opening victories at the LSU Indoor Invitational on Jan. 9 with Bliss picking up the SEC Women’s Field Athlete of the Week and Brisco being named the SEC Women’s Freshman of the Week in the season debut of the SEC weekly awards on Jan. 13.
Schuetz continued her red-hot start to the 2015 indoor season while turning in a pair of NCAA-leading performances in winning the 800-meter title and anchoring the Lady Tigers to first in the women’s distance medley relay at the Auburn Indoor Invitational on Saturday at the Birmingham Crossplex.
Just one week after opening her season with a personal-best run of 4 minutes, 43.65 seconds at the LSU Indoor Invitational, Schuetz smashed her lifetime best in winning the 800-meter title on Saturday with a season-opening run of 2:06.32. While winning the event by nearly a full second over Florida State’s Chelsea Jarvis (2:07.10), she shattered her previous indoor PR of 2:08.89 by more than two seconds and her previous lifetime best of 2:07.02 run outdoors as a freshman in 2014. She emerged from the weekend as the NCAA’s leading 800-meter runner with her performance.
Schuetz later returned to the track to anchor the Lady Tigers with a 4:52.50 mile en route to a national-leading time of 11:35.51 in the women’s distance medley relay. She teamed with Chaiss Matthews (1,200 meters), Keterra Harris (400 meters) and Andria Aguilar (800 meters) to cross the finish line more than 30 seconds ahead of Alabama’s 12:07.23 for second place in the event.
LSU’s SEC Athletes of the Week for 2015
SEC Women’s Runner of the Week
Jan. 20 – Morgan Schuetz
SEC Women’s Field Athlete of the Week
Jan. 13 – Tori Bliss
SEC Women’s Freshman of the Week
Jan. 13 – Mikiah Brisco