BATON ROUGE – LSU junior Aleia Hobbs received her share of recognition Tuesday for her World-leading performance at the Battle on the Bayou this past weekend as the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Division I Women’s National Athlete of the Week and SEC Women’s Runner of the Week.
Hobbs received both weekly awards for the first time in her collegiate career after once being named the SEC Women’s Freshman of the Week during her rookie season with the Lady Tigers in 2015.
Hobbs is the first LSU athlete to be honored by the USTFCCCA as its Division I National Athlete of the Week since sprinter Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake picked up the award on April 19 of last season. She is the second Lady Tiger in as many weeks to be named the SEC Women’s Runner of the Week after Kymber Payne was recognized by the league office a week ago.
Hobbs pulled double duty at LSU’s Battle on the Bayou on Saturday as she anchored the women to a seasonal best and Bernie Moore Track Stadium record of 42.66 seconds in the 4×100-meter relay before sprinting to a wind-legal personal best with an NCAA-leading and World-leading time of 11.07 in the 100-meter dash just an hour later.
Hobbs anchored LSU’s sprint relay team that also featured Mikiah Brisco, Kortnei Johnson and Jada Martin as they ran the No. 2-ranked time in the NCAA this season to finish nearly two seconds ahead of Purdue in the second position with a time of 44.55. Their winning time of 42.66 eclipsed their previous seasonal best of 42.86 from the Texas Relays a week before and smashed LSU’s own 9-year-old Bernie Moore Stadium record of 42.84 set during the 2008 season.
She returned to the track less than an hour later and dominated the field in the women’s 100-meter dash with a wind-legal personal best of 11.07 (+2.0) to become the new NCAA and World leader in the event for the 2017 outdoor season. Hobbs took down her previous PR of 11.13 set as a freshman in 2015 while also breaking Olympian Semoy Hackett’s Battle on the Bayou meet record of 11.23 from 2011.
LSU’S SEC ATHLETES OF THE WEEK FOR 2017
SEC Men’s Field Athlete of the Week
Jan. 24 – Johnnie Jackson
SEC Women’s Runner of the Week
April 4 – Kymber Payne
April 11 – Aleia Hobbs
SEC Women’s Freshman of the Week
Jan. 17 – Ruby Stauber
Feb. 14 – Ruby Stauber
Feb. 21 – Nickolette Dunbar
March 21 – Tonea Marshall