BATON ROUGE – Fan voting is underway for this week’s HERO Sports NCAA Division I Track & Field HERO of the Week awards as sophomore Dajour Braxton and senior Travia Jones are nominated for the men’s and women’s awards, respectively, following their outdoor opener at the Louisiana Classics last weekend.
Fans can vote for LSU’s nominees through Friday on HERO Sports’ website at http://www.herosports.com with this week’s winners being announced on Twitter at @HeroSportsNews after polls are closed.
Jones opened her outdoor season Saturday at the Louisiana Classics with a record-setting performance in the women’s 400-meter dash as she destroyed the Ragin’ Cajuns Track Complex stadium record while slashing nearly one full second off of her previous outdoor personal best in the event.
Jones ran a lifetime PR of 52.31 seconds for the No. 1-ranked time in the SEC and No. 2-ranked time in the NCAA through the first full competitive weekend while taking the title over LSU teammate Rachel Misher who turned in the NCAA’s No. 3-ranked time and second-fastest time in the SEC at 53.04 in her outdoor opener.
By crossing the finish line in 52.31, Jones broke her previous outdoor PR of 53.08 set during the 2016 season and lifetime PR of 52.92 set during the 2017 indoor season. It also took down a 31-year-old stadium record at the Ragin’ Cajuns Track Complex as Alabama’s Lillie Leatherwood set the previous mark of 52.59 way back in 1986.
Braxton emerged from the weekend as the NCAA leader in the men’s 10,000 meters as he clocked 30 minutes, 15.26 seconds in his first ever 10k race. That time moved Braxton into the No. 9 spot on LSU’s all-time Top 10 performance list in the event as one of the program’s leading 10k runners following his debut.