BATON ROUGE – The sport of track and field returns to the host site of the athletics competition at the 2008 Olympic Games as six current and former LSU Track & Field athletes are ready to compete at the 2015 IAAF World Championships in Athletics beginning Saturday at the “Bird’s Nest” National Stadium in Beijing, China, and running through Aug. 30.
This distinguished group of Tigers and Lady Tigers representing Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago and the United States accounted for 11 NCAA event titles, 12 SEC event titles and 39 All-American honors while at LSU.
Among LSU’s athletes competing for Team USA in Beijing are two Tiger seniors finishing their collegiate careers earlier this summer as NCAA 400-meter champion Vernon Norwood and SEC discus champion Rodney Brown will be making their World Championships debut. Norwood will be lining up in the 400-meter dash and 4×400-meter relay, while Brown will be stepping into the discus ring for the United States.
Norwood has emerged as one of the world’s leading 400-meter sprinters in a decorated senior season with the Tigers in 2015 after sweeping NCAA Indoor and NCAA Outdoor titles in the 400 meters while also lining up on LSU’s national champion 4×400-meter relay team to close out the collegiate season. His seasonal-best and personal-best time of 44.44 seconds from the LSU Alumni Gold meet held back on April 18 remains the 10th-fastest time in the World rankings for the 2015 outdoor season heading into the World Championships.
Norwood earned his spot on Team USA with a bronze-medal-winning third-place finish in the 400-meter final at the 2015 USA Track & Field Championships on June 27, where he finished behind only the U.S. Champion David Verburg and reigning World Champion LaShawn Merritt. Norwood wrapped up his two-year stint with the Tigers as a four-time NCAA Champion and eight-time All-American.
Just 3 #LSU national champions at the Bird’s Nest in #Beijing2015! Good luck @Vernon400m @SassySandra7 @damarforbes! pic.twitter.com/0Pyd8CpfBW
— LSUTrackField (@LSUTrackField) August 20, 2015
Brown also ended his All-American career with the Tigers in 2015 after winning his second SEC Outdoor crown in the men’s discus throw en route to the national semifinals of the event for the third time. Brown posted a school-record throw of 213-5 in defending his Penn Relays title in April to also meet the “A” qualifying standard for the World Championships in the event.
Brown placed fourth in the men’s discus final at the USATF Championships and earned his spot on Team USA as the No. 2-ranked American to achieve the “A” qualifying standard for a trip to Beijing.
Also competing for the United States at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics during the outdoor season for the first time in her career is former Lady Tiger Cassandra Tate, who won the silver medal in the final of the women’s 400-meter hurdles at the USATF Championships with a personal-best time of 54.01. She enters the meet as the No. 4-ranked performer worldwide for the 2015 outdoor season.
Tate is a former World Champion indoors as a member of Team USA when she ran on the winning women’s 4×400-meter relay team at the 2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships that was held in Sopot, Poland.
Former Lady Tiger national champion Kelly-Ann Baptiste is no stranger to the international stage as a former World Championships bronze medalist in the 100-meter dash during the 2011 season when she captured her place on the medal podium in Daegu, South Korea. She also lined up in the women’s 100-meter final at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, placing sixth in the event.
Baptiste will again run of her native Trinidad & Tobago in both the 100 meters and 4×100-meter relay at this year’s World Championships. LSU’s 2008 NCAA 100-meter champion also lined up for her country in the sprint relay final at the World Championships in Berlin, Germany, in 2009, where she helped the team to a seventh-place finish.
Two Jamaicans who were crowned NCAA Champions during their careers in Baton Rouge are also set to take the stage in Beijing over the next week as former Tiger Damar Forbes competes in the men’s long jump and former Lady Tiger Natoya Goule lines up in the women’s 800 meters at the World Championships.
Forbes, the NCAA Outdoor Champion in the long jump in his final season with the Tigers in 2013, is set to compete at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics for the third time as he also stepped onto the runway as a college sophomore in 2011 and in Moscow following his senior season in 2013. The 2012 Olympian has earned a career-best finish of eighth place at the World Championships with his efforts in Moscow.
Goule, who was also crowned an NCAA Outdoor Champion during the 2013 season as the nation’s leading 800-meter runner, makes her debut at the World Championships during the outdoor season. While Tate ran in the gold-medal-winning 4×400-meter relay team for the United States, Goule followed as a silver medalist with Jamaica’s relay team at the 2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships.
A complete event and television schedule of the Tigers and Lady Tigers competing at this year’s World Championships is listed below with times Central and subject to change based on round-by-round qualifying.
Time Schedule for LSU Entries at the 2015 IAAF World Championships in Athletics
Note: Times are Central and subject to change based on round-by-round qualifying and weather delays.
Saturday, Aug. 22
Television Coverage: 2-3:30 p.m. CT (NBC); 6-7:30 p.m. CT (Universal Sports); 7:30 p.m.-12 a.m. CT (Universal Sports)
9:25 p.m. – Women’s 400 Hurdles First Round (Cassandra Tate)
10:10 p.m. – Men’s 400 Meters First Round (Vernon Norwood)
11:00 p.m. – Women’s 100 Meters First Round (Kelly-Ann Baptiste)
Sunday, Aug. 23
Television Coverage: 12-1:30 p.m. CT (NBC); 6-7:30 p.m. CT (Universal Sports); 8:30-11 p.m. CT (Universal Sports)
9:00 p.m. – Men’s Long Jump Qualification (Damar Forbes)
Monday, Aug. 24
Television Coverage: 6-9 a.m. CT (Universal Sports)
6:10 a.m. – Women’s 400 Hurdles Semifinal (Cassandra Tate)
6:40 a.m. – Women’s 100 Meters Semifinal (Kelly-Ann Baptiste)
7:05 p.m. – Men’s 400 Meters Semifinal (Vernon Norwood)
8:35 a.m. – Women’s 100 Meters Final (Kelly-Ann Baptiste)
Tuesday, Aug. 25
Television Coverage: 6-8 a.m. CT (Universal Sports); 8:30-11 p.m. CT (Universal Sports)
6:25 a.m. – Men’s Long Jump Final (Damar Forbes)
9:25 p.m. – Women’s 800 Meters First Round (Natoya Goule)
Wednesday, Aug. 26
Television Coverage: 7-8:30 a.m. CT (Universal Sports); 8:30-11 p.m. CT (Universal Sports)
7:10 a.m. – Women’s 400 Hurdles Final (Cassandra Tate)
8:25 a.m. – Men’s 400 Meters Final (Vernon Norwood)
8:30 p.m. – Men’s Discus Throw Qualification Group A (Rodney Brown)
9:50 p.m. – Men’s Discus Throw Qualification Group B (Rodney Brown)
Thursday, Aug. 27
Television Coverage: 6:30-8 a.m. CT (Universal Sports); 7:30 p.m. – 12 a.m. CT (Universal Sports)
7:05 a.m. – Women’s 800 Meters Semifinal (Natoya Goule)
Friday, Aug. 28
Television Coverage: 6:30-9 a.m. CT (Universal Sports); 6:30-11:30 p.m. CT (Universal Sports)
9:40 p.m. – Men’s 4×400 Relay Qualifying (Vernon Norwood)
11:00 p.m. – Women’s 4×100 Relay Qualifying (Kelly-Ann Baptiste)
Saturday, Aug. 29
Television Coverage: 1:30-3 p.m. CT (NBC); 4-5:30 p.m. CT (Universal Sports); 6:30-9:30 p.m. CT (Universal Sports)
6:15 a.m. – Women’s 800 Meters Final (Natoya Goule)
6:50 a.m. – Men’s Discus Throw Final (Rodney Brown)
7:50 a.m. – Women’s 4×100 Relay Final (Kelly-Ann Baptiste)
Sunday, Aug. 30
Television Coverage: 1-2:30 p.m. CT (NBC); 4-5:30 p.m. CT (Universal Sports)
7:25 a.m. – Men’s 4×400 Relay Final (Vernon Norwood)