The Lady Tigers relied on youth to return them amongst the NCAA’s elite in 2015 as they cracked the Top 10 by tying for ninth place at the NCAA Indoor Championships before ending the season with an 11th-place finish at the NCAA Outdoor Championships with their performance. In all, eight Lady Tigers turned in All-American performances over the course of the season while seven of those athletes reached All-America status for the first time in their collegiate careers.
All eight of those All-Americans make their return to the squad in 2016 as LSU will once again challenge for top honors at the SEC and NCAA Championships. Chanice Chase returns as the only senior All-American in the squad, while other All-Americans in juniors Nataliyah Friar, Rushell Harvey, Jada Martin and Rebekah Wales; and sophomores Mikiah Brisco, Daeshon Gordon and Aleia Hobbs hope to make 2016 a season to remember in Baton Rouge.
Ninth in a 10-part series previews a the women’s jumpers who look to play a major role in LSU’s success in the championship meets in 2016.
Women’s Middle Distance & Distance
In an era in which the women’s jumps at the collegiate level are perhaps more competitive than at any other point in time, LSU’s own Nataliyah Friar joined rarified air during her sophomore season last spring when she earned All-America honors in both the long jump and triple jump as one of the NCAA’s best.
Not only did Friar become an All-American for the first time in her collegiate career, but she also eclipsed the 21-foot mark in the long jump and touched the 44-foot mark in the triple jump while soaring to a whole new level during her sophomore season under the coaching of LSU’s jumps coach Todd Lane.
Friar became LSU’s first 21-foot long jumper in 10 seasons when she soared to an indoor personal best of 21 feet, 0 inches on her sixth and final attempt of the final to win the NCAA Indoor bronze medal and secure an All-American third-place finish at last season’s NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships. She was also the first Lady Tiger to earn indoor All-America honors in the event since 2008.
That single jump moved Friar from eighth place up to third place in the NCAA final and vaulted the Wentzville, Missouri, native into the No. 7 spot on LSU’s all-time indoor performance list in the event.
After earning her first career All-America honor in the long jump during the 2015 indoor season, Friar reached All-America status in the triple jump for the first time during the outdoor season while earning a sixth-place finish nationally with a wind-aided jump of 43-8 ½ (+2.8) on her very first jump at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Also an All-SEC performer during her sophomore season, Friar was crowned the SEC Outdoor Silver Medalist in the long jump and SEC Outdoor Bronze Medalist in the triple jump with her performance last May. That is where she jumped her wind-aided career best of 21-10 ¾ (+2.5) in the long jump final and wind-legal personal best of 43-10 (+0.9) in the triple jump final for a pair of All-SEC finishes.
Friar’s triple jump PR of 43-10 made her the seventh-ranked Lady Tiger in history in the event on the team’s outdoor performance list. She followed the collegiate season by jumping a wind-legal best of 21-0 ¾ during a trip to the World University Games in South Korea with Team USA to become the 10th-ranked long jumper outdoors in school history.
A product of Holt High School in her hometown, Friar added to her resume during the regular season outdoors when she was crowned the Penn Relays champion in the long jump after jumping 20-7 ¾ in the final.
There is no doubt that Friar will again play a major role in LSU’s success in the championship meets during the 2016 as she is one of the top long and triple jumpers returning to the NCAA ranks for her junior season. Her points are sure to help fire the Lady Tigers into the national championship race and competition for the trophy places at the NCAA Championships later this spring.
Another Lady Tiger who returns for her senior season looking to get back to the NCAA Championships and score again for the team in the championship season is high jumper Shanice Hall. Originally from St. Catherine, Jamaica, Hall was an SEC scorer for the Lady Tigers for the first time in her career a year ago when she placed sixth indoors and fifth outdoors while competing in the high jump at the SEC Championships.
A two-time NCAA Championships qualifier at the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds in 2013 and 2015, Hall has jumped a best of 5-9 ¾ in her time with the Lady Tigers and owns a lifetime PR of 6-0 ¾ in the event.
Also looking to raise the bar in the high jump during her junior season in 2016 is Briana Kelly, who finished just one spot outside of the scoring positions in her debut at the SEC Outdoor Championships a year ago. That’s where she cleared 5-7 to place ninth in the event after matching her lifetime best with seasonal-best clearances of 5-7 ¼ in back-to-back meets at the LSU Alumni Gold and LSU Invitational during the regular season.
Sugar Land, Texas, native Bria Druilhet jumped her lifetime PR during her freshman season with the Lady Tigers a year ago when she recorded a mark of 40-6 in the triple jump in an indoor meet at New Mexico early on last season. Druilhet eclipsed the 40-foot mark three times on the year with jumps of 40-0 at the LSU Twilight indoors and 40-4 ¾ (+3.6) at the Battle on the Bayou outdoors. She lettered for the Lady Tigers in her rookie season while competing in both the long jump and triple jump at the SEC Championships.
Cocoa, Florida, product Danielle Phillips also returns to Baton Rouge for her sophomore season in 2016 with a lifetime best of 20-0 in the long jump to her credit that was set during her youth career at Rockledge Senior High School. She has also jumped a wind-aided career best of 20-5 ½ as she eyes her first 20-foot jump as a Lady Tiger this season.
Making their debuts for the Lady Tigers during the 2016 season will be freshmen Cayla Nikodemus of Las Vegas, Nevada, and Shayna Yon of Denver, Colorado, as they arrive following heralded high school careers.
There won’t be many faster jumpers stepping on the runway at the collegiate level this season than Yon, who was also an accomplished sprinter during her time at Denver’s Cherokee Trail High School where she was a three-time Colorado Class 5A State Champion sprinter with wind-legal PRs of 11.50 in the 100 meters and 24.17 in the 200 meters. She also jumped a best of 19-6 ¼ in the long jump prior to her arrival in Baton Rouge. In her career at Faith Lutheran High School, Nikodemus was a five-time state champion in Nevada while jumping a career best of 19-0 ½w in the long jump.