BATON ROUGE – An outstanding field awaits the LSU Track & Field teams at the Birmingham Crossplex this weekend as they go on the road for the first time during the 2015 indoor season with their annual trip to Birmingham, Alabama, to compete alongside six Southeastern Conference programs at Saturday’s Auburn Indoor Invitational.
While the Tigers and Lady Tigers will line up against the likes of SEC rivals Auburn, Alabama, Georgia, Ole Miss and Tennessee during Saturday’s action, they also join a field that features elite program like Florida State, Georgia Tech, Ohio State and Southern Mississippi alongside Arkansas Baptist, Hinds Community College, Meridian Community College and Samford.
Saturday’s action kicks off at 10:30 a.m. CT with the first field events of the day, followed by the first preliminary races on the track at noon. The first finals on the track will follow at 1:35 p.m., while the event will come to an end with the running of the 4×400-meter relays beginning at 6:35 p.m.
Fans can follow all of the action by following @LSUTrackField on Twitter at http://twitter.com/lsutrackfield and liking LSU Track & Field on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/lsutrackfield.
The Tigers and Lady Tigers are each coming off impressive performances in their 2015 season opener last weekend when they turned in one indoor school record, 10 indoor personal records and 18 event wins hosting the LSU Indoor Invitational at the Carl Maddox Field House on Jan. 9. Senior Tori Bliss and freshman Mikiah Brisco even picked up SEC Athlete of the Week honors for their season-opening performances as Bliss earned a selection as the SEC Women’s Field Athlete of the Week and Brisco was named the SEC Women’s Freshman of the Week on Tuesday.
Bliss was also honored by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association as the NCAA Division I National Women’s Athlete of the Week after opening her senior season with a school-record-setting and a national-leading throw of 57 feet, 2 ¾ inches in winning the shot put title at the LSU Indoor Invitational. She steps back into the shot put circle again on Saturday afternoon.
Brisco captured the 60-meter hurdles title in her collegiate debut last weekend while nearly matching her personal best in the event with a season-opening time of 8.46 seconds in the final. She will next make her Lady Tiger debut in the 60-meter dash at the Birmingham Crossplex on Saturday as a former high school national champion in the event.
All-Americans Aaron Ernest and Jada Martin opened their 2015 seasons with impressive victories in the 60-meter dash a week ago, and will next debut in the 200-meter dash at the Crossplex on Saturday.
Other Tigers and Lady Tigers looking to build on their momentum from a week ago are sophomores Blair Henderson and Morgan Schuetz as each is set to line up in the 800 meters on Saturday after running the mile for their opening race of the season at the LSU Indoor Invitational. Schuetz even emerged as the early-season national leader in the women’s mile with a personal best of 4 minutes, 43.65 seconds.
As part of Saturday’s Auburn Indoor Invitational, LSU Track & Field will also feature a host of returning All-Americans opening up in individual events for the first time in 2015, including seniors Quincy Downing and Vernon Norwood and juniors Darrell Bush and Chanice Chase in the 200 meters, junior Cyril Grayson in the 400 meters and sophomore Tremayne Acy in the 60 meters.
Three members of LSU’s heralded recruiting Class of 2014 are also set to debut in individual events with freshmen Bria Druilhet and Danielle Phillips stepping onto the long jump runway and freshman Oksana Lawrence running the 400-meter dash on the women’s side.
After competing at the Auburn Indoor Invitational on Saturday, the Tigers and Lady Tigers will head back on the road next weekend with a trip to Lexington, Kentucky, to compete at the Rod McCravy Memorial Track & Field Meet being held Jan. 23-24 at the Nutter Field House. The University of Kentucky will also play host to this year’s SEC Indoor Track & Field Championships on Feb. 27-28.
