The LSU track and field teams took home one NCAA event title, one NCAA silver medal, six All-American honors and one school record at the 2015 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas, this weekend.
The men’s team finished seventh, marking its ninth top-10 finish in the past 10 indoor seasons. The Lady Tigers finished in a tie for ninth, improving from 12th a year ago.
The defending champion Oregon Ducks won the men’s title after scoring 74 points throughout the weekend, while Arkansas won its first women’s indoor national championship with 63 points.
Senior Vernon Norwood led the way for the men as he won the 400-meter national title with a personal best of 45.31 seconds.
Norwood’s effort gave LSU its first indoor 400-meter national title since Xavier Carter in 2006.
The Morgan City, Louisiana, native is LSU’s third national champion in the event. He improved from a silver-medal finish in 2014.
“I just felt that I executed better than I did last year being in that same position,” Norwood said in a news release. “It just shows that the work and the execution I did and the preparation I had helped me to come out here on top.”
Seniors Quincy Downing and Aaron Ernest also earned All-American honors with Downing finishing fifth in the 400-meters and Ernest finishing fourth in the 200-meters.
The Lady Tigers were led by senior Tori Bliss, who broke her own indoor shot put school record and won the silver medal with a throw of 60 feet, 7.25 inches. The performance made Bliss the Lady Tigers’ top indoor national finisher in program history.
“I had a goal at the beginning of the season to be over 60 feet indoors, and I did that three different times,” Bliss said. “To be at my best at the NCAA Championships, I can’t ask for much more than that.”
Coach Dennis Shaver said both of the teams’ work ethic and mental preparation were key in their performance.
“I’m so very proud of the way our athletes stepped out there and competed throughout this meet, and to bring home two top-10 team finishes says a lot about their preparation and mindset coming into the weekend here at NCAA Indoors,” Shaver said. “I’m especially proud that our teams improved both their number of points and the final placement from a year ago at this championship.
With the 2015 indoor season over, LSU begins its outdoor season on March 20-21 at the Louisiana Classics in Lafayette.
You can reach Mario Jerez on Twitter @MJerezIII.