Norwood to run at NCAA East Preliminaries

The LSU Track & Field teams will open NCAA East Preliminary Round action in Jacksonville, Florida, today at Hodges Stadium at the University of North Florida.
The No. 3-ranked Tigers and No. 8-ranked Lady Tigers will compete with their goal of earning their spot in the national semifinals.
LSU has qualified 43 entries into the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds between the two teams — 20 entries for the Tigers and 23 entries for the Lady Tigers — to rank among the NCAA postseason leaders.
“We always approach this meet as the first in a seven-day NCAA Championship,” LSU Track and Field Coach Dennis Shaver said Wednesday in a news release. “Our athletes must be ready to compete from their first race, their first jump and their first throw starting tomorrow here in Jacksonville. We’ll take it round-by-round and day-by-day and have our athletes prepared and ready to compete for one of those 12 spots that will be going on to Eugene.”
Morgan City High alum Vernon Norwood is ranked No. 1 in the NCAA East Preliminary in the 400-meter run, while he, along with Joshua Thompson, Tremayne Acy and Aaron Earnest, combined for the top 4x100-meter relay mark at 38.78.
The Tigers’ 4x400-meter relay of Quincy Downing, Cyril Grayson, Fitzroy Dunkley and Norwood is ranked second at 3:01.63, just behind Florida’s time of 3:01.60.
The NCAA East Preliminary Rounds run through Saturday.
Flash Results will provide the daily live results of the meet at http://www.flashresults.com in each of the three days of competition at the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds. Fans also can receive live updates of the Tigers and Lady Tigers competing in Jacksonville this weekend by following @LSUTrackField on Twitter at http://twitter.com/lsutrackfield and Instagram at http://instagram.com/lsutrackfield and by liking the LSU Track & Field page on Facebook at http://facebook.com/lsutrackfield.
Fans also are invited to join in the Twitter conversation this weekend and throughout this year’s NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships by using the hashtag #NCAATF in their tweets in the three days of competition at the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds and during the four days of semifinals and finals in two weeks.
North Florida’s Hodges Stadium will serve as one of two host sites for the NCAA Preliminary Rounds this weekend as the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds will return to Mike A. Myers Stadium at the University of Texas in Austin. The NCAA East Preliminary Rounds return to Hodges Stadium for the third time in four years as the meet also was held in Jacksonville in both 2012 and 2014.
The NCAA Selection Committee has accepted the Top 48 performers in each individual event and the Top 24 relay teams in both the 4x100-meter and 4x400-meter relays to compete at each site serving as hosts of the NCAA Preliminary Rounds for a total of 96 individuals and 48 relays competing in all events nationwide.
When competing at the NCAA Preliminary Rounds, the Top 12 finishers in each open and relay event will qualify for the semifinal and final rounds of the 2015 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships to be held at historic Hayward Field on the campus of the University of Oregon in Eugene from June 10-13.