LSU track and field still has the outdoor Southeastern Conference Championships, NCAA Preliminaries and potentially NCAA Championships ahead until its 2014 season concludes.
With the indoor season already finished and only the postseason remaining for outdoors, labeling the semester a success seems considerably fair.
In the 120th Penn Relays, junior thrower Rodney Brown set a new meet record and broke LSU’s 25-year-old school record, when he launched a discus throw 210 feet, 9 inches on his opening throw.
The record earned Brown him the right as Men’s Athlete of the Meet for Individual Events.
“Big kudos to Rodney,” said LSU track and field coach Dennis Shaver. “He’s been chasing that school record for a good year and a half, and for him to do it at the Penn Relays is a very positive sign for him and his future. “
For the third straight season, LSU began its season with a trip to Birmingham, Ala., for the Auburn Indoor Invitational.
In the very first event of the 2014 indoors season, senior thrower Denise Hinton won the hammer throw event with a mark of 65 feet, 8 1/4 inches. For Hinton, the victory served as a catalyst for a historical season.
Hinton would later break LSU’s 10-year-old record for hammer throw when she unleashed a throw of 209 feet, 6 inches at the Battle on the Bayou.
Ironically, weather played a significant role in LSU’s indoor season. While the Carl Maddox Field House was finishing its renovation, the Tigers and Lady Tigers were forced to practice at its outdoor stadium during one of the most extreme winters Baton Rouge has experienced.
However, the unusually cold temperatures did not stop Shaver’s team from starting the season hot. In the team’s first three meets of the year, LSU captured 17 event titles.
The LSU men captured second place at the Texas A&M Triangular and New Mexico Team Invitational, while the women earned second place at Texas A&M and went on to finish first at New Mexico.
The climax of the indoor season did not come until the end when LSU’s men 4X400 meters team won the national championship.
Sophomores Darrell Bush and Cyril Grayson and juniors Quincy Downing and Vernon Norwood earned LSU it’s only indoor national title when the team finished first ahead of Nebraska and Arkansas.
Solidifying her excellent senior campaign, hurdler Jasmin Stowers became the first person in Penn Relays history to win the 100-meters hurdle three times.
“For Jasmin to do something that no one else has ever accomplished is uniquely special, especially if you know Jasmin,” Shaver continued. “No one deserves that accomplishment more than she does.”
Stowers began her senior campaign winning the first six meets’ 60-meter hurdles.
“There are so many great hurdlers who have run here over the years, so it’s great to be the first to win it three times,” said Stowers in a news release.
As LSU track and field approaches the SEC Outdoors Championships, the team remains focused on its responsibilities to complete the season and not become complacent with its previous achievements.
“We’re all getting mentally and physically prepared to finish this season strong” said junior sprinter Aaron Ernest.
“We know that in order to label this season a success, we must show up big at the next two meets.”