BATON ROUGE – While the Lady Tigers will return an experienced squad that packs a scoring punch at the NCAA Championships in the 2016 season, they are excited to welcome a talented class of recruits to campus for the start of the fall semester on Monday with seven newcomers soon making the trip to Baton Rouge to join the program.
The Lady Tigers are sure to make a run at the trophy positions at the NCAA Championships next spring when they return a talented squad with eight All-Americans scoring points at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships to end the 2015 season with three other athletes also returning after competing in the national semifinals back in June.
And head coach Dennis Shaver and his staff only strengthened the squad for 2016 with the signing of one All-American transfer and six high school standouts from across the globe to National Letters of Intent.
While the Tigers added a pair of All-American 400-meter runners as part of their Class of 2015 with Ohio State transfer LaMar Bruton and Florida State transfer Michael Cherry, the Lady Tigers are excited to welcome an All-American 400-meter sprinter of their own as former Oregon national champion Christian Brennan arrives in Baton Rouge following two collegiate seasons with the Ducks.
Among the high school recruits signing National Letters of Intent with the Lady Tigers are a pair of sprint champions Kortnei Johnson (Italy, Texas) and Rachel Misher (Baton Rouge, Louisiana), middle distance standouts Erika Lewis (West Des Moines, Iowa) and Hollie Parker (Cambridge, England) and jumps prospects Cayla Nikodemus (Las Vegas, Nevada) and Shayna Yon (Denver, Colorado).
“We’re excited about the talent level coming back to the team next season and how much those young women have developed as student-athletes in our program,” Shaver said. “We’re just as excited about this class of recruits that will soon join us and help push us to where we want to be as a program both on and off the track. It’s a group that we feel has the potential to really thrive in our program.”
Brennan is sure to make an immediate impact with LSU’s sprint squad as a two-time NCAA Championships qualifier in the 400-meter dash and two-time All-American in the 4×400-meter relay at Oregon.
Brennan enjoyed a record-setting freshman season with the Ducks in 2014 as she ran the third leg on the NCAA-title-winning 4×400-meter relay team that set the collegiate indoor record of 3 minutes, 27.40 seconds to clinch the NCAA Indoor team title for Oregon at the NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships held in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She followed outdoors by helping lead the Ducks to a bronze-medal-winning third-place finish in the 4×400-meter relay final at the NCAA Outdoor Championships on their home track.
Twice an NCAA qualifier in the 400-meter dash while competing at the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds in 2014 and 2015, Brennan ran her top 400-meter times of 53.83 indoors and 52.81 in the event as a freshman in an Oregon uniform. She is also a former All-Pac-12 performer as a Pac-12 Outdoor Championships silver medalist in the 4×400-meter relay as a sophomore in 2015.
A native of Waterdown, Ontario, Canada, Brennan also arrives at LSU with an international pedigree having represented her home country at the IAAF World Youth Championships in 2011. That’s where she captured a pair of World Youth silver medals in the 200 meters and 400 meters, including setting the Canadian youth record with a personal-best time of 52.12 in the 400-meter final.
Brennan’s wind-legal PR of 23.43 (+1.8) from the 2011 Canadian Youth Championships established a Canadian junior record at the time while she also won the 400-meter bronze medal with a time of 52.49 in the final at the 2011 Canadian Senior National Championships while competing as a 15-year-old.
While Brennan brings a wealth of NCAA experience with her to Baton Rouge, Johnson and Misher arrive on campus as two of the most decorated high school sprinters in their home states during their prep careers.
Johnson wrapped up her career at Italy High School as a seven-time state champion in Texas, including a sweep of Class 2A state titles in the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes as a senior in 2015 when she recorded two of the fastest times by a high school sprinter in the United States under all conditions on the season with winning wind-aided times of 11.26 (+4.1) and 23.39 (+4.0), respectively.
Johnson was first crowned state champion in the 200 meters as a sophomore in 2013 when she clocked her wind-legal personal best of 23.94 (+1.5) in the state final for the top time in the state of Texas during the 2013 outdoor season. She followed as a junior in 2014 by winning her third of four career state titles in the 100 meters with a PR of 11.51 (+1.9) that was the No. 9-ranked time nationally on the season.
Misher proved to be one of the premier sprinters in the state of Louisiana throughout her prep career at Episcopal High School in Baton Rouge where she was a 12-time state champion on the track between the indoor and outdoor seasons. Her resume includes a sweep of Class 2A state titles in the 100 meters and 200 meters in three-straight seasons from 2013-15 while competing at the Louisiana High School Athletics Association Class 2A Outdoor State Track & Field Championships held at LSU’s Bernie Moore Track Stadium.
Misher’s second state-title sweep as a junior in 2014 produced a pair of wind-legal personal bests when she clocked 11.73 (+1.2) and 24.64 (-2.3) in the state finals to rank among the top sprinters in the state. She owns a strong athletic pedigree herself as her father, Allen Misher, is a former All-American hurdler at LSU and the 1976 NCAA Indoor Champion in the 60-yard hurdles.
LSU’s middle distance runners have flourished in two seasons under the leadership of assistant coach Khadevis Robinson, and the Lady Tigers have certainly added to their squad with the signing of Lewis from Waukee High School in West Des Moines, Iowa, and Hollie Parker from Kings School in Cambridge, England, to National Letters of Intent in 2015.
Parker inked with the Lady Tigers as a decorated England international while recording personal bests of 2:08.47 in the 800 meters and 4:27.66 in the 1,500 meters before her arrival. Experienced in championship meets throughout the United Kingdom, she ran her two fastest 800-meter times of 2:08.47 in 2014 and 2:08.55 in 2015 while competing at the Watford Open Graded Meeting in her home country.
Lewis wrapped up her high school career as a two-time medalist with Waukee High School at the 2015 Iowa Class 4A State Championships where she scored the silver medal for the 400-meter hurdles with her personal best of 1:01.76 and took home the bronze medal in the 800 meters with a time of 2:15.48. She also won a pair of Drake Relays bronze medals in both events in 2015, even running a PR of 2:12.38 in the 800 meters.
Assistant coach Todd Lane has even bolstered a talented stable of jumpers ahead of the 2016 season with the signing of Nikodemus and Yon as two of their states standout performers in the Class of 2015.
A talented sprinter and long jumper during her prep career at Denver’s Cherokee Trail High School, Yon will be competing primarily in the jumps with the Lady Tigers after finishing her tenure as the 2015 Colorado Class 5A state champion in the long jump during her senior season. She owns a personal best of 19 feet, 6 ¼ inches in the event that she actually set as a sophomore in 2013.
Yon even swept Class 5A state titles in both the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes during her senior season with winning wind-legal times of 11.79 and 24.17, respectively, in the state finals in 2015. Her title-winning run of 24.17 in the 200-meter final at the state meet even set a new wind-legal personal best in the event.
Yon has twice ranked among the Top 10 high school sprinters nationally in a season in her prep career as she was the No. 6-ranked 100-meter sprinter nationally as a sophomore in 2013 after posting her wind-legal best of 11.50 (+0.7) at the Great Southwest Classic in Albuquerque and was the No. 10-ranked 60-meter sprinter nationally as a junior in 2014 when she posted a PR of 7.48 in the event.
Like Yon, Nikodemus enjoyed a high school career as a state champion in both the sprints and jumps as a five-time Nevada Division IA state champion while competing for Faith Lutheran High School. She arrived at LSU with wind-aided bests of 11.86 in the 100 meters, 24.41 in the 200 meters and 19-0 ½ in the long jump as she also has plans to compete in the pole vault for the Lady Tigers.
Nikodemus ended her prep career as the Nevada Division 1A state champion in both the 200 meters and long jump while also winning the state bronze medal in the 100 meters with her career-best wind-aided time as a senior in 2015. She was first crowned a state champion in the long jump as a sophomore in 2013 when she jumped her windy best of 19-0 ½w.
“We feel like we have a great balance in this group that will be joining us for the fall semester,” Shaver said of LSU’s class of seven new Lady Tigers. “We’ve strengthened what’s already a great foundation in the sprints and relays coming back next year, while adding some exciting young talent in other event areas where we are traditionally very strong. This class will go very well with the talent we have coming back.”