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Track & Field Teams Ready for NCAA IndoorsTrack & Field Teams Ready for NCAA Indoors

Track & Field Teams Ready for NCAA Indoors

Track & Field Teams Ready for NCAA Indoors

BATON ROUGE – Fifteen LSU Track & Field athletes have made the return trip to Birmingham, Alabama, this weekend to wrap up their 2016 indoor season at the NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships being held for the first time in its history at the Birmingham Crossplex as the two-day meet will run Friday and Saturday.

The Tigers and Lady Tigers are set to compete at the Birmingham Crossplex for the second time this season after also appearing at the Conference Clash Power Five Invitational back on Jan. 22-23.

Live results of the two days of competition at the NCAA Indoor Championships will be provided by Flash Results as fans can follow event-by-event coverage of the Tigers and Lady Tigers at http://flashresults.com.

ESPN3.com will also provide live streaming video during both days of the championship as online coverage will begin at 5:25 p.m. CT on Friday and 3:55 p.m. CT on Saturday at http://ESPN3.com. ESPN2 will also televise a two-hour tape-delay broadcast of the 2016 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships to a national television audience on Sunday from 6-8 p.m. CT.

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. LSU’s men have now cracked the final Top 10 at the NCAA Indoor Championship in seven of the last eight seasons with the women achieving that status in 13 of the last 14 seasons since 2002.

Friday’s action kicks off for LSU’s athletes at 6:10 p.m. CT with preliminary races on the track running through 9 p.m. Saturday’s events pick up at 4:25 p.m. CT through the men’s 4×400-meter relay at 6:40 p.m.

LSU’s teams are sure to finish among the NCAA’s leaders once again as the Tigers have cracked the Top 5 of the national rankings with their five entries and the Lady Tigers have remained in the Top 10 with their seven entries into the championship. Both teams feature one relay entry among their individual qualifiers competing this weekend.

The Tigers will be arriving at the Birmingham Crossplex in Friday’s opener with their share of firepower in the qualifying rounds on the track as they feature an NCAA leader, two No. 2-ranked performers nationally and the 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 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 the 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.

While the Tigers are poised to score big points 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.

For her efforts, Brisco was honored Monday as the SEC Women’s Indoor Runner of the Year in the conference’s announcement of its postseason awards for the 2016 indoor season. She is the first to win the award for three seasons since former NCAA Champion Kimberlyn Duncan last claimed the honor in 2013.

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.

After wrapping up the 2016 indoor season at the NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships in Birmingham this weekend, the Tigers and Lady Tigers will take a week off before they return to action by heading to Coral Gables, Florida, for their outdoor opener at the Hurricane Twilight meet being held Friday, March 25, at Cobb Stadium at the University of Miami.

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)
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)