The LSU track and field teams finished the season strong as the Tigers tied for fourth place and the Lady Tigers placed sixth at the 2014 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon.
Tori Bliss earned a silver medal and set a school record in women’s shot put with a throw of 57 feet 4.25 inches. She broke her own school record of 56 feet 9.25 inches she set in early May in Baton Rouge.
Bliss became the first Lady Tiger in 20 years to receive All-America honors in the shot put and only the fourth to earn such honors in program history.
“It felt effortless,” Bliss said in a news release. “That’s something that a big throw should feel like. It was just amazing. As soon as it left my hands, I could kind of tell that it was a big throw.”
In her final competition as a Tiger, Jasmin Stowers had the fastest time in LSU history in the women’s 100-meter hurdles, finishing in 12.54 seconds to claim a silver medal at the championships.
The Lady Tigers tallied 34 points during the championships to finish behind Texas A&M, Texas, Oregon, Florida and Georgia.
The Tigers scored 29 points over the weekend to tie Southern California for fourth place in the overall Championship standings. LSU finished behind Oregon, Florida and Texas A&M.
The men clinched a bronze medal in the 4×100-meter relay Saturday. Their third-place finish in the relay bumped the Tigers up to eighth place, the first time they were in the top 10 all weekend.
Junior Aaron Ernest finished fourth place in the men’s 200-meter dash to add five more points to the Tigers’ team standings. Ernest previously appeared in the 200 meters at the NCAA outdoors as a freshman in the 2012 season.
“I’m so very proud of the effort showed by our athletes and our staff over the seven days of this NCAA track meet,” said LSU coach Dennis Shaver. “These last four days have really shown how hard we’ve worked as a team since the very start of fall training to perform at our very best when it mattered the most. I’m proud of everyone for the effort they gave our program here this weekend.”
Quincy Downing, left, heads toward a third place finish as Trevor Brown, center, goes down, with Michael Stigler and Miles Ukaoma, right, continuing on to second and first place finishes respectively in the Men 400 meter hurdles at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., Friday, June 13, 2014. (AP Photo/The Register-Guard, Chris Pietsch)
