BATON ROUGE – LSU’s athletes are preparing for the conclusion of the 2016 indoor season next week with the NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships running March 11-12 in Birmingham, Alabama, as 14 total entries are now scheduled to compete in the event being held at the Birmingham Crossplex for the first time in its history.
The No. 5-ranked Tigers cracked the Top 10 of the final men’s team standings a year ago as they scored 19 points to tie for seventh place at the 2015 NCAA Indoor Championships. The No. 10-ranked Lady Tigers made it a pair of top-10 team finishes for LSU as they totaled 18 points to tie for ninth place in the competition.
The Tigers have now cracked the Top 10 at the NCAA Indoor Championships in seven of the last eight seasons, while the Lady Tigers have achieved that status in 13 of the last 14 seasons since 2002.
LSU’s teams are sure to finish among the national leaders once again as both the Tigers and Lady Tigers will be represented by seven qualifiers into the championship, including six individuals and one relay team in each squad. LSU’s men have added to their number of six entries from a year ago, while the Lady Tigers competed with eight entries in each of the last two seasons.
The Tigers will arrive at the Birmingham Crossplex a week from tonight with firepower on their side as they feature an NCAA leader, two No. 2-ranked performers nationally and their reigning NCAA Outdoor Champion 4×400-meter relay team that are poised to contend for NCAA event titles during the meet.
Junior Jordan Moore was crowned an SEC Champion for the first time in his collegiate career last Saturday when he raced to an NCAA-leading personal best of 7.60 seconds to win the men’s 60-meter hurdles crown on the final day of the SEC Indoor Championships. Also crowned an SEC Indoor Champion was junior Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake, who followed his lifetime PR of 20.51 in the qualifying round with a winning sprint of 20.53 at the conference meet. Mitchell-Blake’s PR of 20.51 is the NCAA’s No. 2-ranked time in the men’s 200 meters this season.
Junior Michael Cherry added a personal best of his own in Friday’s preliminary races at the SEC Indoor Championships when he clocked the fastest time of the day at 45.61 for the second-fastest time nationally moving into the NCAA Indoor Championships. Senior Fitzroy Dunkley also declared in the men’s 400-meter dash with the No. 7-ranked time in the field at 46.04 in an All-SEC third-place finish.
Cherry and Dunkley ran the third leg and anchor leg, respectively, on LSU’s No. 4-ranked 4×400-meter relay team as they teamed with senior Cyril Grayson and junior LaMar Bruton with a time of 3:04.46.
Rounding out the Tigers’ entries into this year’s NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships are junior Johnnie Jackson and freshman Donte Jackson as they are set to make their first career appearance. Donte Jackson is tied as the 10th-fastest 60-meter sprinter in the field with a time of 6.63, while Johnnie Jackson is the No. 14-ranked weight thrower with a best this season at 70 feet, 5 ¾ inches.
While the Tigers are poised to score big with a host of NCAA-title contenders in the sprints and relays, the Lady Tigers feature a national championship contender of their own in SEC Champion Mikiah Brisco.
Brisco made history as the first Lady Tiger in the history of the SEC Indoor Championships and the first athlete since Florida’s Michelle Freeman in 1992 to sweep SEC titles in the 60-meter dash and 60-meter hurdles, or at the 55-meter distance. She beat Florida’s NCAA leader Shayla Sanders in the 60-meter final with the second-fastest time nationally this season at 7.18. Brisco also clocked a personal best of 8.05 in the hurdle final for the No. 5-ranked time in the NCAA entering the championship.
Brisco is the only LSU athlete returning to the NCAA Indoor Championship next week after earning All-America honors in an individual event a season ago when she placed fifth nationally in her first career national final in the 60-meter dash to cap her freshman season indoors in 2015. She has qualified in the 60-meter hurdles for the first time as a Lady Tiger.
Joining Brisco in the 60-meter hurdles is SEC Indoor Silver Medalist Daeshon Gordon, who ranks No. 7 in the field with a seasonal-best and personal-best time of 8.10 run twice this season, including the SEC final.
SEC Indoor Champion Morgan Schuetz also returns to the NCAA Indoor Championships after lining up in the semifinal round of the 800 meters as a sophomore a year ago. Schuetz is the 11th-fastest 800-meter runner in the field with a seasonal-best and indoor personal-best time of 2:04.05 to her credit this season. All-SEC junior Jada Martin earned a lane in the 200 meters with the No. 4-ranked time at 22.92.
Also set to make her return to the NCAA Indoor Championships in the long jump is reigning NCAA Indoor Bronze Medalist Nataliyah Friar, who earned the 16th and final spot into the women’s field in her event with her seasonal-best jump of 20-9 to date.
Capping the Lady Tigers’ entries into this year’s meet is their distance medley relay team that grabbed the 12th and final spot into the field with a school-record time of 11:05.34 run earlier this season. Running its school record in the distance medley relay were freshman Hollie Parker, junior Travia Jones, sophomore Hannah Deworth and Schuetz as they are likely to feature once again in Birmingham.
LSU’s 2016 NCAA Indoor Championships Qualifiers
Men
Athlete, Event, Top Time/Mark (NCAA Rank)
Michael Cherry, 400 meters, 45.61 (2)
Fitzroy Dunkley, 400 meters, 46.04 (7)
Donte Jackson, 60 meters, 6.63 (10)
Johnnie Jackson, Weight Throw, 70-5 ¾ (14)
Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake, 200 meters, 20.51 (2)
Jordan Moore, 60 hurdles, 7.60 (T1)
Cyril Grayson, LaMar Bruton, Michael Cherry, Fitzroy Dunkley; 4×400 relay; 3:04.46 (4)
Women
Athlete, Event, Top Time/Mark (NCAA Rank)
Mikiah Brisco, 60 meters, 7.18 (2)
Mikiah Brisco, 60 hurdles, 8.05 (4)
Nataliyah Friar, Long Jump, 20-9 (16)
Daeshon Gordon, 60 hurdles, 8.10 (6)
Jada Martin, 200 meters, 22.92 (3)
Morgan Schuetz, 800 meters, 2:04.05 (10)
Hollie Parker, Travia Jones, Hannah Deworth, Morgan Schuetz; DMR; 11:05.34 (12)