BATON ROUGE – Two members of the LSU Track & Field program have been recognized by the Southeastern Conference for their outstanding leadership in the team’s community service efforts as junior sprinter Quincy Downing and freshman distance runner Meghan Charbonnet are members of this year’s SEC Community Service Team.
Both Downing and Charbonnet have been named to the SEC Community Service Team for men’s and women’s track and field for the first time in their collegiate careers.
A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Downing leads the Tigers in community service hours dedicated during the 2013-14 academic year. His community service efforts includes participating with Mark’s Madness benefitting ALS research, being a mentor at the Louisiana Young Heroes Day, working as a volunteer at the Special Olympics, participating at National Lemonade Day at LSU and volunteering at the Community Empowerment Services.
Downing is fresh off Sunday’s finale at the 2014 SEC Outdoor Track & Field Championships where he scored three points for the Tigers with a seventh-place finish in the 400-meter dash and an eighth-place finish in the 400-meter hurdles before leading off the Tigers to a bronze-medal-winning third-place finish in the 4×400-meter relay with a time of 3 minutes, 4.33 seconds in the championship final.
Downing also wrapped up the 2014 indoor season in March by running the second leg on LSU’s NCAA champion 4×400-meter relay team at the NCAA Indoor Championships held in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Charbonnet has proven herself as a leader of the Lady Tigers off the track as she currently serves as the Community Service Chair and is a track and field representative on LSU’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
Charbonnet’s volunteer work includes serving food to the homeless at St. Vincent de Paul, working with Special Olympics held at LSU, interacting with residents at a retirement community and organizing LSU’s annual Halloween BOOzar where she manned the Track & Field activity station and handed out candy to provide local youth a safe and fun environment.