BATON ROUGE – The LSU Track & Field teams are ready for their 2015 indoor season finale this weekend with 15 Tigers and Lady Tigers have making the trip to Fayetteville, Arkansas, to compete at the NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships being held Friday and Saturday at the Randal Tyson Track Center at the University of Arkansas.
Arkansas’ Randal Tyson Track Center will play host to the NCAA Indoor Championships for the second time in three seasons and the 12th time in 16 seasons since its debut during the 2000 campaign.
Live results of the two days of competition at the NCAA Indoor Championships will be provided by Flash Results as fans can follow event-by-event coverage of the Tigers and Lady Tigers at http://flashresults.com.
ESPN3.com will also provide live streaming video during both days of the championship as online coverage will begin at 6 p.m. CT on both Friday and Saturday at http://ESPN3.com. ESPNU will also televise the two-hour tape-delay broadcast of the 2015 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships to a national television audience on Sunday, March 22, from 6:30-8:30 p.m. CT.
It marks the third time that the LSU Track & Field teams will compete in Fayetteville this season as they make their return this weekend after also competing at the Razorback Invitational held Jan. 30-31 followed by the Tyson Invitational held Feb. 13-14 at the Randal Tyson Track Center. The Lady Tigers took home the third-place team trophy for the fourth-straight season and the Tigers earned a 15th-place team finish the last time this NCAA Indoor Championship was held at the University of Arkansas to end the 2013 season.
Friday’s action kicks off for LSU’s athletes at 6 p.m. CT with preliminary races on the track continuing through 8:20 p.m. Saturday’s events pick up at 3:45 p.m. CT through the men’s 4×400-meter relay at 8:45 p.m.
Warming up before getting out on the track for Thursday’s practice at the Randal Tyson Track Center! #TrainingDay pic.twitter.com/vWu12Ytobi
— LSUTrackField (@LSUTrackField) March 12, 2015
The Tigers, who scored 18 points to tie for eighth place in the final men’s team standings at the NCAA Indoor Championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico, a season ago, are the No. 8-ranked men’s team nationally yet again in the final U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Top 25 power ranking released on Monday with their six entries into the meet.
The Lady Tigers are also positioned to improve upon their tie for 12th place finish with 16 points in the final women’s team standings in 2014 as they have earned their highest national ranking in the USTFCCCA Top 25 on the season as the No. 15-ranked women’s team nationally this week. They have matched their representation from a season ago with eight entries into this year’s NCAA Indoor Championships.
The Tigers are poised to contend for a ninth top-10 men’s team finish in 10 seasons, while the Lady Tigers look to return to the Top 10 of the women’s standings for the 13th time in 14 seasons this week.
The Tigers will line up as a contender to defend their NCAA Indoor national championship in the men’s 4×400-meter relay as they return all four legs from the squad that won the program’s fourth NCAA Indoor title last season in the event, including seniors Vernon Norwood and Quincy Downing and juniors Darrell Bush and Cyril Grayson as the NCAA’s No. 3-ranked relay team in 2015 with a seasonal-best time of 3:04.28.
Norwood is also back to challenge for the NCAA Indoor title in the men’s 400-meter dash after winning the silver medal a season ago as he is the No. 4-ranked qualifier in the field with a seasonal-best time of 45.56.
Downing will also line up in the 400-meter dash for the second-straight season after just missing out on a spot in the final in 2014 when he raced to a 10th-place finish in qualifying to cap his junior season indoors. For the 2015 indoor season, Downing has run his seasonal-best time of 46.27 to follow Norwood as the No. 13-ranked qualifier in the men’s 400-meter field.
Fresh off of his gold-medal-winning performance at the SEC Indoor Track & Field Championships nearly two weeks ago, senior Aaron Ernest makes his return to the NCAA Indoor Championships in the 200 meters in his final appearance indoors as an LSU Tiger. Ernest clocked the NCAA’s No. 2 time this season at 20.67 in the preliminary round before winning his second SEC Indoor title with a run of 20.69 in the final this season.
Ernest has rediscovered the All-America form he showed during his sophomore season in 2013 when he finished in sixth place nationally in the 200-meter final at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
Two Tigers will be making their debut appearances at the NCAA Indoor Championships as senior Joshua Thompson has qualified in the men’s 60-meter hurdles and sophomore Tremayne Acy joins Ernest for the men’s 200-meter dash. Thompson ranks No. 6 in the 60 hurdles with a top time of 7.73, while Acy follows Ernest at No. 9 in the field for the 200 meters with a top time of 20.85 in 2015.
While the Tigers are the defending NCAA Indoor Champions in the 4×400-meter relay, the Lady Tigers feature a national championship contender of their own in the form of the NCAA’s shot put leader Tori Bliss.
Bliss joined the 60-foot club in the shot put while being crowned the SEC Indoor Champion in the event on Feb. 27 with a SEC Indoor meet record of 60 feet, 1 inch on her very first throw of the competition. LSU’s 2014 NCAA Outdoor silver medalist is poised to earn her second career All-America honor while making her first career appearance at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
An NCAA Indoor finalist in the long jump in her debut a year ago, sophomore Nataliyah Friar is the team’s lone NCAA Championships qualifier in two events as she will appear in both the long jump and triple jump next weekend. Friar owns the No. 11-ranked mark at 20-9 ¾ in the long jump and No. 13-ranked mark at 42-6 in the triple jump in the field appearing at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
Along with Bliss, a host of youthful Lady Tigers have qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships for the first time in their collegiate careers, including sophomore Jada Martin in the 200 meters with the No. 8 time this season at 23.30, sophomore Morgan Schuetz in the 800 meters with a time of 2:04.87 to grab the 16th and final spot in the field, freshman Daeshon Gordon in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.20 for the 13th-fastest time in the country and freshmen Aleia Hobbs (7.29) and Mikiah Brisco (7.30) at No. 15 and No. 16 in the women’s 60-meter dash.
After wrapping up the 2015 indoor season at the NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships in Arkansas this weekend, the Tigers and Lady Tigers will turn their attention outdoors straightaway as athletes who did not qualify for the national meet will open up their outdoor season next weekend on March 20-21 at the Louisiana Classics being held at the Ragin’ Cajun Track Stadium in Lafayette.
LSU’s 2015 NCAA Indoor Championships Qualifiers
Men
Athlete, Event, Top Time/Mark (NCAA Rank)
Tremayne Acy, 200 meters, 20.85 (9)
Quincy Downing, 400 meters, 46.27 (13)
Aaron Ernest, 200 meters, 20.67 (2)
Vernon Norwood, 400 meters, 45.56 (4)
Joshua Thompson, 60 hurdles, 7.73 (T6)
Bush, Downing, Grayson, Norwood; 4×400 relay; 3:04.28 (3)
Women
Athlete, Event, Top Time/Mark (NCAA Rank)
Tori Bliss, Shot Put, 60-1 (1)
Mikiah Brisco, 60 meters, 7.30 (16)
Nataliyah Friar, Long Jump, 20-9 ¾ (11)
Nataliyah Friar, Triple Jump, 42-6 (13)
Daeshon Gordon, 60 hurdles, 8.20 (T13)
Aleia Hobbs, 60 meters, 7.29 (15)
Jada Martin, 200 meters, 23.30 (8)
Morgan Schuetz, 800 meters, 2:04.87 (16)