Norwood takes third place in 400-meter finals

Morgan City High School alum and LSU track and field standout Vernon Norwood won the bronze medal in the 400-meter run at the 2014 NCAA Division 1 Outdoor Track and Field Championship today at Oregon's Hayward Field.

Norwood clocked in at 45.45 to finish behind Texas A&M's Deon Lendore and Oregon's Mike Berry, who finished first and second, at 45.02 and 45.07, respectively.

The Morgan City alum accounted for six of the Tigers' first 12 points of the weekend as the squad moved into a tie for 12th place overall in the men's team standings.

Norwood will be in action again at Hayward Field Saturday on the final day of this year’s NCAA Championships as he and teammates Quincy Downing, Cyril Grayson and Darrell Bush compete in the 4x400-meter relay.

In Friday's race, Norwood found himself running in fifth place off the final curve but used a strong finish to emerge from the field as the NCAA Outdoor Bronze Medalist.

Norwood came up just one spot shy of matching his indoor performance when he scored the NCAA Indoor silver medal as one of the nation’s elite 400-meter sprinters for 2014.

The race turned into a dead heat for the title between Lendore, the reigning NCAA Indoor champion, and Berry as Lendore crossed the finish line in 45.02 ahead of Berry at 45.07.

Behind Norwood were Pittsburgh’s Brycen Spratling (45.49), Florida’s Najee Glass (45.63), Florida State’s James Harris (45.64), Notre Dame Christopher Giesting (46.10) and Florida’s Hugh Graham Jr. (46.65).

“Coming off that bend, I knew I had to hit it hard and finish the race,” Norwood said in an LSU news release. “I tried not to look at anybody else, just tried to focus on finishing the race and do the best I could for my team. At these meets, you get all kinds of conditions. You just have to prepare for it. There was a headwind (on the backstretch); we all got the same wind. We just had to compete hard and see who wanted it more.”

Video of Friday's 400-meter final is available at www.lsusports.net

Norwood also talked about his motivation in returning to Hayward Field in Saturday’s finale looking to complete the NCAA title sweep in the 4x400-meter relay for the 2014 season. The Tigers already have won the NCAA Indoor crown in the event.

“My adrenaline is pumping right now. I can’t wait to get back out here and run,” Norwood said in the news release. “I just can’t wait to get the guys ready and try to repeat the title from indoors. It’s going to be tough.”

Norwood along with junior Quincy Downing and sophomores Darrell Bush and Cyril Grayson combined to advance to the 4x400-meter relay final after clocking in at 3:03.43 to win the third of three semifinal heats Thursday. The same quartet won the indoor national title.

Saturday's final will be held at 5:47 p.m. CDT.

The Tigers finished the 4x400-meter relay semifinals with the second-fastest time of the day behind Texas A&M, who clocked in at 3:00.76 to win the first of three heats.

Other teams who qualified for Saturday’s finals are Nebraska (3:03.61), Oregon (3:03.80), Western Kentucky (3:03.94), Florida (3:04.33), Arkansas (3:04.74) and Baylor (3:05.64).

ESPNU will feature a live television broadcast of Saturday’s action at Hayward Field from 4-6 p.m. CDT, while fans also can watch the Tigers and Lady Tigers in action during that time on Watch ESPN. Fans also can receive live updates of the Tigers and Lady Tigers by liking LSU Track & Field on Facebook on http://facebook.com/lsutrackfield and by following @LSUTrackField at http://twitter.com/lsutrackfield.