Track & Field Announces Class of 2014: Hurdlers

 

The LSU Track & Field program has signed an outstanding group of recruits to National Letters of Intent for the Class of 2014 that will compete for the first time next year. Tuesday’s announcement is the second in a five-part series announcing the signing of the team’s hurdle recruits for the 2015 season.

BATON ROUGE – The LSU Track & Field program is renowned for the performance of their hurdlers at the SEC and NCAA Championships each season, and the squad has certainly strengthened both the sprint hurdles and intermediate hurdles for years to come with the signing of three athletes of National Letters of Intent for the Class of 2014.

The Lady Tigers are excited to welcome two of the nation’s elite dual hurdlers into the program in Daeshon Gordon (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) and Kymber Payne(Compton, Calif.) as they will line up as true freshmen next season in 2015. The program also announced the signing of Mikiah Brisco (Baton Rouge, La.) on Monday as one of the premier prep sprinters and hurdlers nationally this year.

Tuesday’s announcement is the second in a five-part series featuring LSU’s Class of 2014 as head coachDennis Shaver announces the Tigers and Lady Tigers who will compete for the first time in 2015.

“Yesterday we announced a very good group of sprinters that we’re excited to have joining our program for next season. We’re just as excited today to announce an outstanding group of hurdlers that will help give us one of the very best sprints and hurdles groups in the country over the next few years,” Shaver said. “This group that we’ve signed is a testament to the reputation our program has in the hurdle events as we’ve been able to attract some of the very best athletes from across the country. They are a welcomed addition to our program for next season.

“We feel that this is one of the best groups of sprinters and hurdlers to sign in the Class of 2014 on the women’s side, and that is a great foundation to have for the future of our program going forward.”

Gordon was the No. 4-ranked prep performer nationally among all classifications and the No. 1-ranked athlete among members of the Class of 2014 in the 400-meter hurdles when she clocked her personal record time of 58.92 seconds in winning the Jamaican Junior championship at the 2013 Jamaican National Championships held last summer at the National Stadium in Kingston.

A product of Northeast High School in Oakland Park, Fla., Gordon is already off to a roaring start in her senior season outdoors in 2014 as she has already shattered her personal record in the 300-meter hurdles with her performance and ranks No. 2 nationally among all classes and No. 1 among members of the Class of 2014 in the event.

After winning Florida’s Class 4A state title and setting a 2013 seasonal best of 42.15 in the 300-meter hurdles to rank No. 6 nationally in her graduating class last season, Gordon has already slashed her PR by nearly a full second with times of 41.85 and 41.45 in her two appearances in 2014 as she is already an early-season All-America candidate in the intermediate hurdles.

In addition, Gordon ended her junior season in 2013 as the No. 12-ranked prep hurdler nationally among all classes and the ranked No. 6 in the Class of 2014 with a personal best of 13.77 in the 100-meter hurdles.

Like Gordon, Payne signs with the Lady Tigers as one of the top hurdle prospects in the country in this recruiting season after being named a Track & Field News High School All-American and a member of the American Family Insurance All-USA Girls Track & Field Team following a breakout junior season at Long Beach (Calif.) Poly High School in 2013.

Payne signed her National Letter of Intent with personal records of 8.63 in the 60-meter hurdles, 13.80 in the 100-meter hurdles and 41.32 in the 300-meter hurdles as one of the nation’s top performers a year ago.

She set PRs of 13.80 in the 100 hurdles and 41.32 in the 300 hurdles in a pair of silver-medal-winning runner-up finishes in the high school events at the 2013 Mt. Sac Relays held last spring. Payne ended the 2013 season as the No. 3-ranked 300-meter hurdler at the prep level in the United States among all classifications with her PR of 41.32, while she also checked in at No. 2 nationally among her graduating class. Her PR of 13.80 during the 2013 season in the 100 hurdles was the No. 8-ranked performance among high school juniors a year ago.

Payne also claimed the California state silver medal in the 300 hurdles at the 2013 California CIF State Track & Field Championships to highlight her junior season at Long Beach Poly High School.

As announced Monday, Brisco inked with the Lady Tigers as one of the nation’s top recruits in the sprints and hurdles for the Class of 2014 in the wake of her historic career at Baton Rouge Magnet High School.

After winning the Louisiana Class 5A state championship in the 100-meter hurdles with a personal-best time of 13.87 in the state final, Brisco then burst onto the international stage during the summer as she earned an improbable bronze medal for the United States in the 100-meter hurdles at the 2013 IAAF World Youth Championships held in Donetsk, Ukraine.

After earning her spot on Team USA with a runner-up finish in the final of the 100-meter hurdles at the USA Track & Field World Youth Trials, Brisco lined up in the final at the IAAF World Youth Championships and ran a personal best of 13.29 in the youth hurdles to bag the bronze medal in her international debut for the United States to wrap up a breakout 2013 outdoor season.

Brisco followed her junior season outdoors in 2013 with an outstanding senior season indoors in 2014 as she captured the Louisiana Division I state crown in the 60-meter hurdles with a personal best of 8.45. That effort earned her a No. 7 national ranking among all high school classifications in the 60-meter hurdles.

Tuesday’s announcement of LSU’s hurdle recruits is the second in a five-part series as the program announces its Class of 2014 this week. On Wednesday, Shaver and his coaching staff will announce the addition of the program’s recruits in the middle distance and distance events that will compete for the first time for the Tigers and Lady Tigers during the 2015 season.