The Lady Tigers finished the 2016 season among the NCAA’s elite once again while scoring 31 points for a sixth-place finish nationally at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships. In all, 10 Lady Tigers turned in All-American performances over the course of the campaign with their efforts at the NCAA Championships during the indoor and outdoor seasons.
The Lady Tigers will return 10 All-Americans to their squad in 2017 as LSU will once again challenge for top honors at the SEC and NCAA Championships. With a senior-laden squad featuring All-Americans Nataliyah Friar, Rushell Harvey, Travia Jones, Jada Martin, Morgan Schuetz and Rebekah Wales; along with juniors Mikiah Brisco and Aleia Hobbs and sophomores Kortnei Johnson and Rachel Misher, the Lady Tigers hope to make 2017 a season to remember in Baton Rouge.
Eighth in a nine-part series previews the women’s jumpers and multi-event athletes who look to make an impact on the team race at the SEC and NCAA championships in 2017.
Women’s Jumps & Multis
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 in 2015 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 the NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships that season. 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 in 2015. She jumped her wind-aided PR 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.
Despite being plagued by injuries throughout her junior season in 2016, Friar still qualified for the long jump at the NCAA Indoor Championships for the third-straight year and competed in both jumps at the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds in Jacksonville while setting seasonal bests of 20-9 in the long jump and 42-9 in the triple jump a year ago.
Friar’s outdoor season in 2016 was also highlighted by being crowned the Texas Relays Champion in the long jump after jumping a season-opening mark of 20-8 1/2 (+0.6) in her winning series.
There is no doubt that Friar will again play a major role in LSU’s success in the championship meets during the 2017 as she is one of the top long and triple jumpers returning to the NCAA ranks for her senior 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.
NCAA Qualifier
Cocoa, Florida, native Danielle Phillips was an NCAA qualifier in the long jump for the first time in her collegiate career a year ago as she wrapped up her sophomore season at the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds.
Phillips opened the 2016 outdoor season by winning the long jump title at Miami’s Hurricane Twilight with a wind-legal personal best of 20-1 ¾ (+1.0). In fact, she pulled double duty at the Hurricane Twilight last year by also hurdling to a wind-legal PR of 13.83 (+0.2) for second place overall in the 100-meter hurdles during the event.
Phillips later cleared the 20-foot mark in the long jump for a second time during her sophomore season when she sailed 20-1 for second place at the Texas Invitational. She saw tremendous progression in her efforts as a sophomore while adding more than one foot to her seasonal best after jumping a top mark of 19-1 ½ as a freshman during the 2015 season.
Other members of LSU’s jumps squad looking to raise the bar in their performance in the 2017 season will be juniors Bria Druilhet with personal bests of 19-0 in the long jump and 40-6 in the triple jump and Briana Kelly with a personal best of 5-7 ¼ in the high jump and sophomores Shayna Yon with a best of 19-6 ¼ in the long jump, Kaitlyn Walker with a best of 5-6 in the high jump and Amy Stelly with a best of 12-0 in the pole vault.
Instant Impact
The Lady Tigers will be looking for an instant impact this season from sophomore multi-event athlete Brittany Kelly, who is eligible to compete after transferring to LSU from Ole Miss following the 2015 season.
Kelly was one of the NCAA’s leading multi-event athletes during her freshman season with the Rebels as she qualified for the field of 24 athletes competing in the heptathlon at the 2015 NCAA Outdoor Championships where she finished in 21st place nationally with a total score of 5,394 points in the eight-event competition.
Kelly kicked off the championship season in 2015 by scoring one point for the Rebels with an eighth-place finish in the heptathlon at the SEC Outdoor Championships while totaling a personal best of 5,531 points. It was a freshman season in which she also scored a personal best of 3,830 points in the indoor pentathlon while competing at the SEC Indoor Championships.
A former two-time Gatorade Tennessee Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year at Northeast High School in 2013 and 2014, Kelly will compete as a Lady Tiger for the first time with PRs of 13.65 in the 100 hurdles, 24.61 in the 200 meters, 2:11.95 in the 800 meters, 5-9 ¼ in the high jump, 19-2 ½ in the long jump, 31-1 in the shot put and 88-4 in the javelin.