The LSU men’s and women’s track and field teams each placed fifth at the Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships this weekend held at Nutter Field House in Lexington, Kentucky.
Florida won the men’s championship with 114 points, and the Arkansas women repeated as champions with a dominating 130 points.
The Tigers secured one SEC individual title and two top-three finishes to score 53 points. The Lady Tigers scored 51 points after accounting for one SEC individual title and one top-three finish.
“Both of our teams finished strongly here today and really maximized our scoring opportunities after a good day of qualifying yesterday,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver in a news release. “We always approach meets like this as a separate track meet each day. I thought we had a strong start in the field events and qualifying on the track yesterday, and followed that up with another good performance here this afternoon.”
LSU senior shot putter Tori Bliss won the SEC indoor shot put title. Bliss needed only one throw to break the SEC indoor record with a distance of 60 feet, 1 inch. It broke her own LSU record by nearly three feet and catapulted her to No. 7 on the all-time NCAA record list.
Senior sprinter Aaron Ernest clinched the only SEC individual title for the Tigers, this one in the men’s 200-meter dash. Ernest won the title for the second time in his career after he was crowned the SEC champion in the event during the 2013 season.
“It feels great,” Ernest said in a news release. “Last year I was hurt for pretty much the whole indoor season, and I wasn’t healthy running at SECs. I still remember my freshman year here when I got second, and I never really let that one go. So, it felt good to come out here and run well and win it again for a second time
Senior hurdler Joshua Thompson scored major points for the Tigers on day two. He matched his indoor personal-best time of 7.73 seconds in the men’s 60-meter hurdles to take second place in the event. Thompson earned his first career All-SEC honor with his finish.
Senior sprinter Vernon Norwood followed Thompson, earning All-SEC honors of his own in the men’s 400-meter dash. Norwood clocked in at 45.68 seconds — the second-fastest time of his career — to earn the bronze medal in the event.
Norwood anchored the reigning NCAA champion men’s 4×400-meter relay team to a third-place finish. The team consisting of Norwood, senior Quincy Downing, junior Darrell Bush and junior Cyril Grayson was outlasted by Florida and Texas A&M for the second year in a row in the SEC finals.
Sophomore distance runner Morgan Schuetz contributed in a big way for the Lady Tigers. Schuetz set a new personal-record in the women’s 800-meter dash, besting her previous record by nearly two seconds. Her time of 2:04.87 was good enough for fourth place.
Schuetz teamed with fellow distance runners senior Andria Aguilar, junior Kiersten Duncan and sophomore Danielle Avery in the women’s distance medley relay final. The Lady Tigers ran the fifth-fastest time in program history, 11:25.24, for a second-place finish.
“When you see those like Morgan Schuetz who are running a second and a half faster than they’ve ever run before in their life, you can’t ask for much more than that,” Shaver said. “That’s what’s going to help us when we go to nationals.”
Shaver was overjoyed with the way his teams performed at the conference meet, and he said their performances were good enough to add to the roster they will take to the national meet.
Select Tigers and Lady Tigers will compete at the NCAA Championships March 13-14 at Randall Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas.