The Tigers earned a pair of top-five team finishes at the NCAA Championships during the 2016 season as they followed a trophy-winning fourth-place finish indoors by placing fifth nationally outdoors at Oregon’s Hayward Field last June. Leading the way were nine All-Americans in such event areas as the sprints, hurdles and relays as the Tigers again earned their place among the top teams in collegiate track and field.
They return six All-Americans to this year’s squad while adding a number of All-American caliber athletes in the field events to help fuel a national championship run this spring. Led by the likes of Tremayne Acy, LaMar Bruton, Michael Cherry, Jaron Flournoy, Renard Howell and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake along with their powerful relay teams as NCAA-title contenders and the nation’s No. 4-ranked recruiting class, the pieces are in place for the Tigers to contend for their first national championship since the 2004 season.
Third in a nine-part series previews the men’s jumpers that look to compete among the nation’s best during the 2017 season.
Men’s Jumps
LSU’s jumpers are poised to make a splash on the national stage for the first time since Olympian Damar Forbes was crowned the NCAA long jump champion in 2013 as they return a trio of NCAA Championship qualifiers while welcoming one of the nation’s top recruiting classes ahead of the 2017 season.
Junior triple jumper Da’Quan Bellard joins a pair of pole vaulters in senior Cameron Robichaux and sophomore Chadd Burns as NCAA qualifiers returning for the Tigers for the 2017 season, while freshmen Rayvon Grey, Jace Attuso, Christian Miller and Milton Harrell helped form the foundation of the nation’s No. 4-ranked men’s recruiting class by Track & Field News.
It’s a jumps squad under the direction of assistant coach Todd Lane that looks to impact LSU’s fortunes when it matters most as the Tigers are eyeing top finishes again at the SEC and NCAA Championships.
“Chip” On My Shoulder
Bellard earned qualification to the NCAA Championships for the first time in his career as a redshirt freshman last spring while appearing in the triple jump at the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds in Jacksonville, Florida. In 2016, Bellard jumped lifetime bests of 24 feet, 5 ¾ inches in the long jump and 50-2 ½ in the triple jump as the team’s top performer in both events.
The Opelousas native solidified his NCAA qualification in the triple jump at the SEC Outdoor Track & Field Championships where he soared a wind-aided career best of 51-1 ½ (+2.3) for ninth place as an SEC finalist.
Class of 2016
The Tigers are ready to welcome four of the top jumps prospects in the Class of 2016 this season as Grey, Attuso, Miller and Harrell are set to wear the LSU uniform for the first time in the indoor and outdoor seasons.
A product of Beacon (N.Y.) High School, Grey is the No. 3-ranked high school long jumper to ever compete indoors in the United States after being crowned the 2016 New Balance Indoor Nationals Champion with a top mark of 26-0 ¼ in his prep career. He also jumped an impressive 25-8 on his second jump at the New Balance Indoor Nationals a year ago to solidify himself as the nation’s No. 1 long jump recruit for 2017.
Grey followed outdoors by breaking Bob Beamon’s 51-year-old New York high school long jump record with an outdoor best of 25-4 ¾ (+0.0) to defend his New York Division I outdoor state championship in the event. Beamon, the 1968 Olympic Gold Medalist and former world-record holder in the event, set the previous New York state record of 25-3 ½ in 1965.
Attuso was also one of the nation’s top high school long jumpers during the 2016 season when he jumped his career-best mark of 24-8 ¾ while competing for Baton Rouge’s Catholic High School. A three-time Louisiana Class 5A State Champion during his prep career, Attuso swept Class 5A state titles in both the long and triple jumps to highlight his senior season last spring.
Miller made his name as one of the country’s top triple jump prospects while competing for Northside High School in Lafayette where he eclipsed 51 feet in the event as the state’s top performer among all classes.
Louisiana’s top jumps recruit in the Class of 2016, Miller scored the state championship double in Class 4A as a senior while winning long jump and triple jump titles at the Louisiana High School Athletics Association Class 4A Outdoor State Track & Field Championships. That’s where he jumped his all-conditions personal best of 51-0w (+2.7) to defend his Class 4A title in the triple jump. He was crowned the Class 4A state champion in the triple jump in 2015 with a seasonal best wind-aided mark of 50-9 (+2.5) at the state meet.
Harrell, who hails from Tylertown (Miss.) High School, emerged as a national-level high jump recruit during his junior season in 2015 when he cleared his lifetime best of 7-2 in the event. He ended the 2015 campaign as the nation’s No. 2-ranked high school high jumper with his personal-best clearance of 7-2.
Up, Up & Away!
Robichaux joined the 17-foot club in the pole vault during his junior season in 2016 when he soared a lifetime best of 17-0 at the LSU High Performance Meet during the indoor season. His junior season indoors also put him among the SEC’s top vaulters as he scored at the SEC Championships for the first time in his career with a clearance of 16-10 ¾ for seventh place overall at the conference meet.
The 2016 Power Five Conference Clash pole vault champion followed outdoors by stepping onto the runway at the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds for the first time where he cleared 16-4 ¾ for 30th place.
Burns joined his teammate in NCAA competition in the postseason as he solidified his qualification by jumping a lifetime best of 16-7 ¼ for 11th place overall in the pole vault at the SEC Outdoor Championships. LSU also welcomes junior Jonathan Nelsen back to the squad in 2017 with a personal-best mark of 16-6 during his collegiate career.