The LSU Men and Women’s Track and Field teams will compete Friday and Saturday in the 2014 Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark.
The Tigers and Lady Tigers are coming off impressive performances after strong showings at last week’s Aggie Invitational, where the two sides combined for three event titles, 13 personal bests and results that nearly cracked the school’s all-time rankings.
Senior Jasmin Stowers continued her impressive indoor-season, finishing first in the 60-meter hurdles for the fourth consecutive weekend. The Lady Tigers also claimed the top-spot in the shot put and long jump competitions, thanks to junior Tori Bliss and freshman Nataliyah Friar, respectively.
Junior Quincy Downing and sophomore Darrel Bush each clocked indoor personal bests, as Downing’s performance moved him into a tie for the No. 17 spot in the current NCAA rankings. Bush’s record time positioned just outside the Top 30 national rankings.
Although the indoor track and field season began less than a month ago, development from meet to meet is needed with SEC Championships only two weeks away. LSU Track and Field coach Dennis Shaver continues to stress the importance of week-to-week progression.
“We got some things done [at A&M] that will help us in the championships meets, but there is still a lot of work to be done by both our teams,” Shaver said in a news release.
One Tiger hoping for more repetitions will be junior Vernon Norwood.
Norwood, in his long-awaited season debut, finished second behind only Texas A&M All-American Aldrich Bailey, Jr. Although his performance was not good enough for a win, his numbers placed him one-hundreth outside the Top-10 of the school’s all-time rankings in the men’s 400-meter dash.
Shaver recognizes his team is indeed putting forth the effort to compete for championships.
“I continue to be very impressed by how our teams compete week in and week out,” Shaver said. “Now the performances are starting to come along with how hard we’re competing now.”
The two-day meet, spanning Feb. 14 and Feb. 15 will be set in the Randal Tyson Track Center, site for the 2013 SEC and NCAA Indoor Championships.
“I continue to be very impressed by how our teams compete week in and week out.”