The LSU men’s and women’s track and field teams picked up wins in five events at the Crimson Tide Indoor Opener in Birmingham, Ala., on Saturday, their first indoor meet of the 2013 season.
“The most exciting thing was to see the improvement from our returning athletes,” said LSU coach Dennis Shaver. “When you compare their performance in the first meet last year to the first meet this year, we had a significant number of athletes improve considerably.”
For the men, sophomore Aaron Ernest set a personal record in the 200-meter with a time of 20.80 seconds, finishing almost half a second ahead of all other competitors. Sophomore Quincy Downing also took first place in the 400-meter with a time of 47.72 seconds.
The Lady Tigers recorded the other three event winners, including senior Bowerman Award winner Kimberlyn Duncan in the 60-meter dash, junior Denise Hinton in the weight throw and sophomore Tori Bliss in the shot put.
Duncan, the two-time defending indoor 200-meter national champion, did not compete in the 200-meter on Saturday. She did, however, win her first 60-meter competition since her sophomore season, posting a time of 7.39 seconds.
“Obviously in the 200, she’s performed at an extremely high level but we both believe that we can continue to improve in the 60 and then heading out doors into the 100,” Shaver said.
Bliss and Hinton each captured their respective events on their first throws. Bliss heaved a lifetime personal best throw of 51-9 3/4, and Hinton tallied a throw of 64-9 that bested the rest of her competition by almost three feet.
Shaver said to see career best performances from Bliss and other athletes on Saturday was an exciting glimpse into both teams’ future in the 2013 season.
“Anytime a person can come to their first competition and turn in a personal best performance for the indoor season, I think that’s a really impressive start,” Shaver said.
The Tigers and Lady Tigers will travel to College Station, Texas next Saturday for their first scored competition of the indoor season, which Shaver said will include Duncan’s season debut in her signature 200-meter event.
