BATON ROUGE – LSU’s freshman middle distance runner Ruby Stauber was honored by the Southeastern Conference on Tuesday afternoon as the SEC Women’s Freshman of the Week after emerging as one of the NCAA’s leading 800-meter runners in her collegiate debut Saturday at the Commodore Invitational in Nashville.
Stauber has already taken a big step toward NCAA qualification this indoor season after running a one-second indoor personal best of 2 minutes, 4.56 seconds in her first 800-meter race as a Lady Tiger.
Her season-opening 2:04.56 was second only to the winning NCAA leader of 2:04.47 by Middle Tennessee State’s Abike Egbeniyi in the women’s 800-meter final at the Commodore Invitational as she crossed the finish line as the SEC leader in the event and the No. 2-ranked half-miler in the NCAA in the early stages of the 2017 season.
Stauber’s indoor PR is more than five seconds faster than the time of 2:10.03 by Ole Miss’ Maddie McHugh as the No. 2-ranked time in the SEC this season. Her collegiate debut also moved her into the No. 7 spot in the school’s all-time indoor performance list in the women’s 800 meters.
A native of Plymouth, Minnesota, and product of Wayzata High School, Stauber signed with the Lady Tigers as one of the nation’s top 800-meter recruits a year ago, highlighting LSU’s recruiting class that earned a No. 3 national ranking on the women’s side for the Class of 2016 by Track & Field News. While running her first collegiate 800 meters as a Lady Tiger, Stauber smashed her previous indoor PR of 2:05.56 that she had a year ago while running at the New Balance Indoor Nationals in New York during her senior season of high school.
Not only that, but Stauber also led off the Lady Tigers’ winning distance medley relay at the Commodore Invitational on Friday night as she ran the 1,200-leg of the team that finished five seconds in front of the Atlanta Track Club (11:38.88) with a seasonal-best time of 11:33.67. She teamed with junior Keterra Harris, senior Morgan Schuetz and sophomore Hollie Parker to win the women’s DMR title.
Stauber and her LSU teammates look to build momentum at the Birmingham Crossplex in Birmingham, Alabama, this weekend where they will compete at the Auburn Indoor Invitational on Saturday afternoon.