LSU’s track and field team spent its 2013 season setting personal records, breaking school records and sitting atop the rankings.
Senior sprinter Kimberlyn Duncan made history at the 2013 NCAA Indoor Championship meet where the women finished third and the men 15th. She was the first sprinter, man or woman, in collegiate history to win three straight NCAA indoor titles in the 200-meter race.
“To make history, I’m just so blessed to be able to do that,” Duncan said in a news release.
Duncan is on the 2013 Bowerman Award watch list for the month of May.
At the 2013 Indoor LSU Twilight meet, junior thrower Denise Hinton broke her own record in the indoor weight throw on her last attempt. Hinton was three centimeters away from owning the Maddox Field House record.
During the outdoor season, LSU’s women broke four outdoor records: Junior Natoya Goule in the 800-meter run at the Alumni Gold Meet, sophomore Tori Bliss in the shot put at the Battle on the Bayou, the 4×800 relay team at the Penn Relays and senior Laura Carleton in the 5,000 meters.
Bliss broke a 19-year-old school record by simply changing her technique from a gliding throw to a rotational one.
“I had a breakthrough week at practice,” Bliss said. “I had a good feeling. … Just having confidence knowing I’m getting better with all the drills and repetitions that we’re doing helped.”
LSU track and field won nine honors so far this season, with Goule and Duncan claiming seven of the nine. Goule and Duncan named Southeastern Conference Women’s Runner of the Week three and four times this season, respectively.
The teams finished competition at the Penn Relays on April 27, and the women’s team continued a 23-year streak of winning at least one relay title at the meet.
The track and field teams have two weeks off before the Southeastern Conference Outdoor Championships on May 9. Shaver said now that the regular season meets are over, the focus has shifted to his athletes.
“We’re looking forward to the next two weeks of preparation as we get ready for the most important part of our season,” he said. “I know our athletes are most focused on what is to come in the championship season. That’s what our program is most known for.”
