BATON ROUGE – Two members of the No. 3-ranked LSU women’s track and field team have been recognized among the top athletes in the Southeastern Conference for the 2017 season as junior sprinter Aleia Hobbs and freshman middle distance runner Ruby Stauber received SEC postseason awards Wednesday.
Hobbs is the SEC Women’s Outdoor Runner of the Year and Stauber is the SEC Women’s Outdoor Co-Freshman Runner of the Year for their outstanding performance during the 2017 outdoor season.
Hobbs turned in one of the most impressive sprint performances in NCAA history on the final day of the SEC Relays on April 29 as she first stepped onto the track for the 4×100-meter relay in the first event of the day.
She anchored LSU’s women to victory while breaking their own school record and tying Oregon’s collegiate record of 42.12 in the event with Texas A&M finishing well off the pace in second place with a time of 43.01. Hobbs, who ran the anchor leg into a strong headwind on the homestretch at the Bernie Moore Track Stadium, teamed with Mikiah Brisco, Kortnei Johnson and Jada Martin to break their school record of 42.14 set just two weeks before at the Mt. SAC Relays on April 15.
That was just a warm up for Hobbs as she later returned to the track and won the SEC Relays 100-meter title with the second-fastest wind-legal time in NCAA history with a personal best of 10.85 (+2.0) to take over the national lead in the event. It’s a time that remains the No. 2-ranked performance worldwide for the 2017 season as the top time among Americans.
Hobbs’ 10.85 personal best is the fastest ever time by a collegiate sprinter at low-altitude as only the recognized collegiate record of 10.78 by LSU’s Dawn Sowell at the NCAA meet at BYU in 1989 separates her from the top of the NCAA’s all-time rankings. Hobbs is the ninth sprinter in NCAA history to break 11 seconds with a wind-legal performance in the 100-meter dash.
A winner of four-straight SEC Women’s Runner of the Week awards in the month of April, Hobbs completed the short-sprint sweep at the SEC Championships when she was crowned the SEC Outdoor Champion in the 100 meters with times of 11.02 (+1.7) in the prelims and 11.12 (+0.9) in the final at the SEC Championships. She captured her first career SEC Indoor title in the 60-meter dash back in February.
Hobbs will have the opportunity to run for NCAA titles in her two events at the NCAA Championships next week after advancing from the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds in Lexington last weekend.
Stauber proved herself as one of the top rookies in the SEC in 2017 as she kicked off her championship season as the SEC Outdoor Silver Medalist in the women’s 800 meters with her winning 2 minutes, 3.95 seconds in the event final at the SEC Outdoor Championships on May 13. It marked her second All-SEC performance of the season after winning the SEC Indoor silver medal earlier in the season.
Stauber is set to make her debut appearance in the national semifinals at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships next week as she will line up in the 800 meters at Oregon’s Hayward Field for the first time. Her seasonal best of 2:03.77 ranks No. 16 nationally among all collegians and No. 2 among freshmen in NCAA Division I.
2017 SEC Outdoor Track & Field Awards
Men’s Awards
SEC Runner of the Year: Christian Coleman, Tennessee
SEC Field Athlete of the Year: Lindon Victor, Texas A&M
SEC Freshman Runner of the Year: Grant Holloway, Florida
SEC Freshman Field Athlete of the Year: Ja’Mari Ward, Missouri
SEC Co-Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Kenzo Cotton, Arkansas
SEC Co-Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Craig Engels, Ole Miss
SEC Coach of the Year: Pat Henry, Texas A&M
Women’s Awards
SEC Runner of the Year: Aleia Hobbs, LSU
SEC Field Athlete of the Year: Keturah Orji, Georgia
SEC Co-Freshman Runner of the Year: Ruby Stauber, LSU
SEC Co-Freshman Runner of the Year: Jaevin Reed, Texas A&M
SEC Freshman Field Athlete of the Year: Beatrice Llano, Georgia
SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Lexi Weeks, Arkansas
SEC Coach of the Year: Lance Harter, Arkansas