The LSU Track and Field program brings distinct goals — individual and team — into the 2014 NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships beginning today.
For the No. 8 Lady Tigers, extending their streak of four-straight third place finishes at the indoor finale would surpass their expectations. In 2013, the Lady Tigers qualified 10 athletes, and then-senior Kimberlyn Duncan made history by becoming the first sprinter, male or female, to win three-straight NCAA Indoor gold medals.
In 2014, the Lady Tigers head to Albuquerque, N.M., with six qualifiers and an understanding that matching the achievements of recent years is too high a bar to reach at this point in their development.
“I think it’d be unrealistic to look for a top-5 finish,” said LSU Track and Field coach Dennis Shaver. “We’d be excited if this group could pull together and create a top-10 finish. … Just getting there is a great achievement for them.”
Individually, a few Lady Tigers are looking to contend for a national championship by improving on their Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships performances from a week ago.
Senior Jasmin Stowers enters the weekend as the No. 2 athlete in the 60-meter hurdles after sprinting to a season-best time of 8.01 seconds and a silver medal at the SEC Indoors.
Joining Stowers are three athletes who notched lifetime bests at the SEC Indoors last weekend, including senior weight thrower Denise Hinton, senior triple jumper Lynnika Pitts and senior 800-meter runner Nikita Tracey.
Tracey will also headline LSU’s 4×400-meter relay team, which includes sophomore Chanice Chase and freshmen Bealoved Brown and Jada Martin.
Long jumper Nataliyah Friar is the only Lady Tiger freshman to qualify individually for this weekend’s meet.
“I think that’s just a tremendous achievement for a freshman to get into this meet,” Shaver said. “You just have to take it like it’s just another track meet even though it’s really not. … What we always try to get them to do is just take the same approach that you took with the performance that you achieved to get there.”

Four Tigers round out the 10 qualifiers that will represent LSU at the two-day event beginning Friday at Albuquerque Convention Center. And all four of those Tigers will be competing in a 400-meter event.
LSU juniors Vernon Norwood and Quincy Downing and sophomore Darrell Bush join Florida as the only two schools to qualify three runners in a field of 16 for the 400-meter dash. Norwood leads the No. 20 Tigers after sprinting to a career-best, and third-fastest time in the NCAA, 45.39 mark to finish third place at the SEC Indoors.
While having several athletes in the same event makes it tough for LSU to generate points as a team, Shaver said it speaks volumes about the Tigers’ sprint group.
“It just goes to show that that’s obviously the strength right now during the indoor season of our men’s program, is the 400 meter guys,” Shaver said. “They’ve just done an excellent job. And along with that, they also had the opportunity to run great 4×400 times.”
Sophomore Cyril Grayson completes LSU’s 4×400-meter relay.
The Tigers’ biggest competition are two teams they faced in College Station, Texas, one weekend ago. The 4×400-meter relay teams of SEC Indoor Champion Texas A&M and runner-up Florida are ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively.