Norwood to compete at NCAA indoor nationals

The LSU Track & Field teams are ready for their 2015 indoor season finale this weekend with 15 Tigers and Lady Tigers making the trip to Fayetteville, Arkansas, to compete at the NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships.
The event begins today and concludes Saturday at the Randal Tyson Track Center at the University of Arkansas.
Friday’s action kicks off for LSU’s athletes at 6 p.m. with preliminary races on the track continuing through 8:20 p.m. Saturday’s events pick up at 3:45 p.m. through the men’s 4x400-meter relay at 8:45 p.m.
The Tigers, who scored 18 points to tie for eighth place in the final men’s team standings at the NCAA Indoor Championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico, a season ago, are the No. 8-ranked men’s team nationally yet again in the final U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Top 25 power ranking released Monday, with their six entries into the meet.
The Lady Tigers also are positioned to improve upon their tie for a 12th place finish with 16 points in the final women’s team standings in 2014. They have earned their highest national ranking in the USTFCCCA Top 25 this season as the No. 15-ranked women’s team nationally this week. They have matched their representation from a season ago with eight entries into this year’s NCAA Indoor Championships.
The Tigers will line up as a contender to defend their NCAA Indoor national championship in the men’s 4x400-meter relay as they return all four legs from the squad that won the program’s fourth NCAA Indoor title last season in the event.
The Tigers’ relay includes Morgan City High alum Vernon Norwood, Quincy Downing, Darrell Bush and Cyril Grayson. The NCAA’s No. 3-ranked relay team in 2015 enters the competition with a seasonal-best time of 3:04.28.
Norwood also is back to challenge for the NCAA Indoor title in the men’s 400-meter dash after winning the silver medal a season ago.
He is the No. 4-ranked qualifier this year in the field with a seasonal-best time of 45.56.
Downing also will line up in the 400-meter dash for the second-straight season after just missing out on a spot in the final in 2014 when he raced to a 10th-place finish in qualifying to cap his junior season indoors.
For the 2015 indoor season, Downing has run his seasonal-best time of 46.27 to follow Norwood as the No. 13-ranked qualifier in the men’s 400-meter field.
The Tigers are poised to contend for a ninth top-10 men’s team finish in 10 seasons, while the Lady Tigers look to return to the Top 10 of the women’s standings for the 13th time in 14 seasons this week.
Fresh off his gold-medal-winning performance at the SEC Indoor Track & Field Championships nearly two weeks ago, senior Aaron Ernest makes his return to the NCAA Indoor Championships in the 200 meters in his final appearance indoors as an LSU Tiger. Ernest clocked the NCAA’s No. 2 time this season at 20.67 in the preliminary round before winning his second SEC Indoor title with a run of 20.69 in the final this season.
Ernest has rediscovered the All-America form he showed during his sophomore season in 2013 when he finished sixth nationally in the 200-meter final at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
Two Tigers will be making their debut appearances at the NCAA Indoor Championships as senior Joshua Thompson has qualified in the men’s 60-meter hurdles and sophomore Tremayne Acy joins Ernest for the men’s 200-meter dash. Thompson ranks No. 6 in the 60 hurdles with a top time of 7.73, while Acy follows Ernest at No. 9 in the field for the 200 meters with a top time of 20.85 in 2015.
While the Tigers are the defending NCAA Indoor Champions in the 4x400-meter relay, the Lady Tigers feature a national championship contender in NCAA shot put leader Tori Bliss.
Bliss joined the 60-foot club in the shot put while being crowned the SEC Indoor Champion in the event Feb. 27 with a SEC Indoor meet record of 60 feet, 1 inch on her first throw.
LSU’s 2014 NCAA Outdoor silver medalist is poised to earn her second career All-America honor while making her first career appearance at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
An NCAA Indoor finalist in the long jump in her debut a year ago, sophomore Nataliyah Friar is the team’s lone NCAA Championships qualifier in two events as she will appear in both the long jump and triple jump.
Friar owns the No. 11-ranked mark at 20-9¾ in the long jump and No. 13-ranked mark at 42-6 in the triple jump in the field appearing at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
Along with Bliss, a host of youthful Lady Tigers have qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships for the first time in their collegiate careers, including sophomore Jada Martin in the 200 meters with the No. 8 time this season at 23.30, sophomore Morgan Schuetz in the 800 meters with a time of 2:04.87 to grab the 16th and final spot in the field, freshman Daeshon Gordon in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.20 for the 13th-fastest time in the country and freshmen Aleia Hobbs (7.29) and Mikiah Brisco (7.30) at No. 15 and No. 16 in the women’s 60-meter dash.
This weekend marks the third time the LSU Track & Field teams will compete in Fayetteville this season after also competing at the Razorback Invitational Jan. 30-31, followed by the Tyson Invitational Feb. 13-14, at the Randal Tyson Track Center.
Live results of the two days of competition at the NCAA Indoor Championships will be provided by Flash Results as fans can follow event-by-event coverage of the Tigers and Lady Tigers at http://flashresults.com.
ESPN3.com also will provide live streaming video during both days of the championship as online coverage will begin at 6 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday at http://ESPN3.com.
ESPNU also will televise the two-hour tape-delay broadcast of the 2015 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships to a national television audience March 22, from 6:30-8:30 p.m.