BATON ROUGE – Freshman Ruby Stauber has quickly established herself as one of the top 800-meter runners in the NCAA in her debut season at LSU, and she was honored once again Tuesday as the SEC Women’s Freshman of the Week for the second time this season for her personal-best performance at the Iowa State Classic.
Stauber was also recognized as the SEC Women’s Freshman of the Week on Jan. 17 after running 2 minutes, 4.56 seconds in her collegiate debut in the 800 meters at the Auburn Indoor Invitational.
She took a big step toward NCAA Championship qualification at the Iowa State Classic on Saturday as he smashed that indoor personal best in the 800 meters while cracking the Top 10 of the NCAA rankings this season during Saturday’s finale at the Lied Recreational Center in Ames. Stauber took fifth overall in the event with the NCAA’s No. 9-ranked time this season at 2:03.87 while slashing nearly seven tenths of a second from her previous indoor best in the event.
Stauber’s time also ranks No. 2 nationally among freshmen in the women’s 800 meters, as well as No. 3 in the overall SEC rankings as the fastest freshman in the conference this year. Not only that, but Stauber moved herself into the No. 6 spot on LSU’s all-time indoor performance list with her indoor PR of 2:03.87.
A native of Plymouth, Minnesota, and product of Wayzata High School, Stauber ran in an 800-meter final at the Iowa State Classic that is certainly a preview of what’s to come at the NCAA Indoor Championship coming up in March as she was fifth in a field featuring four other Top 10 athletes in the NCAA this season, including No. 2-ranked Shea Collinsworth of BYU, No. 5-ranked Aaliyah Miller of Baylor, No. 7-ranked Morgan Schuetz of LSU and No. 8-ranked Jasmine Staebler of Iowa State.
LSU’S SEC ATHLETES OF THE WEEK FOR 2017
SEC Men’s Field Athlete of the Week
Jan. 24 – Johnnie Jackson
SEC Women’s Freshman of the Week
Jan. 17 – Ruby Stauber
Feb. 14 – Ruby Stauber