BATON ROUGE – For the third time during the 2012 outdoor season, LSU sprinter Aaron Ernest was named the Southeastern Conference Men’s Freshman of the Week in the wake of his performance during the 118th running of the Penn Relay Carnival held this past weekend in Philadelphia.
Ernest kicked off the outdoor season by earning consecutive SEC Men’s Freshman of the Week honors on March 20 and March 27 as one of the league’s emerging sprinters this spring.
Ernest shattered his wind-legal personal record in the 100-meter dash with the fastest run of the qualifying round at 10.26 seconds (+0.8) while earning a spot in the event final in his Penn Relays debut. He then took home a runner-up finish after running 10.47 in the final to finish behind only a winning race of 10.26 by Jamaican standout Jacques Harvey of Jamaica’s University Tech.
That performance eclipsed his previous PR of 10.30 set in the qualifying round at the Texas Relays during the third day of action on March 30. Ernest is now the NCAA’s No. 1-ranked freshman sprinter in the 100 meters with top times of wind-aided (10.15) and wind-legal (10.26) on the campaign.
In addition, Ernest ran the second leg of LSU’s 4×100-meter relay team that ran a new 2012 seasonal-best of 39.49 en route to a third-place finish in the Championship of America final held Saturday afternoon. The Tigers came up just a split-second short in defending their Penn Relays title in the 4×100-meter relay, as they finished behind Auburn (39.34) and UTech (39.46) in the Championship of America final.
Ernest teamed with senior Barrett Nugent, senior Keyth Talley and sophomore Shermund Allsop to clock 39.49 for the No. 5-ranked time in the SEC and No. 10-ranked time in the NCAA this spring.
LSU’s 2012 SEC Track & Field Athletes of the Week
SEC Men’s Runner of the Week
March 20 – Aaron Ernest
SEC Men’s Field Athlete of the Week
Feb. 7 – Damar Forbes
Feb. 14 – Damar Forbes
March 20 – Rodney Brown
March 27 – Kyron Blaise
April 3 – Kyron Blaise
SEC Men’s Freshman of the Week
March 20 – Aaron Ernest
March 27 – Aaron Ernest
May 1 – Aaron Ernest
SEC Women’s Runner of the Week
Jan. 24 – Cassandra Tate
Jan. 31 – Charlene Lipsey
Feb. 7 – Kimberlyn Duncan
Feb. 14 – Kimberlyn Duncan
March 27 – Kimberlyn Duncan
April 3 – Kimberlyn Duncan
April 10 – Charlene Lipsey
April 24 – Kimberlyn Duncan
SEC Women’s Field Athlete of the Week
Jan. 31 – Denise Hinton
March 20 – Samia Stokes
April 24 – Brieanna Kennedy
SEC Women’s Freshman of the Week
Jan. 24 – Tori Bliss