BATON ROUGE – Former All-American shot putter Tori Bliss was honored as LSU’s Female Athlete of the Year and Female Volunteer of the Year for the 2014-15 academic season to headline LSU Track & Field’s award winners during Monday’s Tiger Athletic Foundation Academic Excellence Gala held at the L’auberge Event Center.
TAF honored more than 220 student-athletes for their academic and athletic achievements in 2014-15 as Bliss claimed two of the six major individual awards presented during the annual gala.
The LSU Track & Field program also cleaned up with five of the 10 athletes receiving the Wally Pontiff, Jr. Academic Excellence Award with Andria Aguilar, Philip Dempsey, Therese Jernbeck, Chaiss Matthews and Daniel Tanner being recognized for their efforts in the classroom during the 2014-15 academic season. The program also featured three of the four winners of the Bengal Belles Academic Achievement Award with Andrea Maxwell, Bryan Mutell and Annie Simoneaux also honored for their performance.
But it was Bliss who collected the most prestigious hardware during this year’s gala as she was recognized by TAF as LSU’s Female Athlete of the Year and Female Volunteer of the Year as a true team leader for 2014-15 in competition, in the classroom and in the community. She ended her collegiate career as one of the most decorated throwers in the history of the Lady Tiger program.
During her senior season in 2015, Bliss earned a pair of All-America honors as the NCAA Indoor Silver Medalist and NCAA Outdoor Bronze Medalist in the women’s shot put to lead the Lady Tigers nationally.
Bliss unleashed her indoor personal record of 60 feet, 7 ¼ inches at the NCAA Indoor Championships to break her own school record in the event and become the No. 8-ranked shot putter indoors in NCAA history. She followed that effort by throwing a lifetime PR of 60-8 during the 2015 outdoor season to also break her own school record and become the No. 9-ranked shot putter outdoors in collegiate history.
Not only that, but Bliss enjoyed a record-setting performance at the 2015 SEC Indoor Championships as she broke the meet record with a winning throw of 60-1 to win her first career SEC title as a Lady Tiger.
Monday’s TAF Academic Excellence Gala was even an opportunity for the program’s many SEC Academic Honor Roll and LSU Director’s Cup winners to be recognized for their achievements. LSU Track & Field were one of the leading programs with 34 SEC Academic Honor Roll members and 37 LSU Director’s Cup Recipients for the 2014-15 academic season.
2016 TAF Academic Excellence Gala
LSU Track & Field Academic Award Winners
TAF Female Athlete of the Year
Tori Bliss
TAF Female Volunteer of the Year
Tori Bliss
Bengal Belles Academic Achievement Award
Andrea Maxwell
Bryan Mutell
Annie Simoneaux
Wally Pontiff, Jr. Academic Excellence Award
Andria Aguilar
Philip Dempsey
Therese Jernbeck
Chaiss Matthews
Daniel Tanner
LSU Scholar-Athletes
* – LSU Scholar-Athlete Director’s Cup
^ – SEC Academic Honor Roll
Andria Aguilar*^
Danielle Avery*^
Mallory Bartow*
Carley Boyce*^
Mikiah Brisco*^
McLain Broussard*
Meghan Charbonnet^
Madison Danna*
Philip Dempsey*^
Hannah Deworth*
Bria Druilhet*^
Elizabeth Dunning*^
Andreas Duplantis*^
Chace Edwards*
Nataliyah Friar*^
Tiffany George^
Mariah Georgetown*
Monica Guillot*
Shanice Hall^
Blair Henderson*^
Jalea Jackson*^
Therese Jernbeck*^
Christian Johnson*^
Rebecca Little*^
Chaiss Matthews*^
Philip Moody^
Bryan Mutell^
Savannah Norman*
Danielle Phillips^
Travis Pope*^
Philip Primeaux*^
Ross Quinlan*
Bryiana Richardson*^
Morgan Schuetz*^
Annie Simoneaux^
Joseph St. Cyr*^
Bryan Stamey*
Katie Stevenson*
Daniel Tanner*
Joshua Thompson^
Marcus Tiner*^
Marvalyn Vernon^
Rebekah Wales^
Ashley Welborn*^
Evan Wesslund*
Sidnie Wilder*^
Jack Wilkes*^