FRISCO, Texas - New Orleans thrower
Danielle Lorenz was honored with the first Southland Conference Women's Field Athlete of the Week award of the season after her standout performance to open her indoor campaign at LSU's Purple Tiger Invitational this past Friday in Baton Rouge, La.
The senior got her year underway with a second-place finish in the shot put after she posted a best toss of 14.58m (47-10). The mark ranks second in the Southland so far during indoors and comes in at No. 62 overall in the nation.
"I am super proud of Danielle," director of track & field Brian Johnson said. "She has started the season off right where she left off from last year. I know that this will be a great senior season for her. Congratulations Danielle and keep working hard!"
The award is a first for the New Orleans program in some time as the Privateers did not capture any weekly honors during the 2019 indoor or outdoor seasons.
Aaron Worrell (Men's Field Athlete of the Week), Harrison Coleman (Men's Track Athlete of the Week) and Shamarah Shannon (Women's Track Athlete of the Week) were all chosen as honorable mentions for their respective awards this week.
Worrell had the best claim to the weekly award as he posted top-100 nationally ranked marks across two events. The junior recorded a best of 7.11m (23-4) in the long jump and 2.00m (6-6.75) in the high jump which ranked No. 75 and No. 93 in the country, respectively.
The only two collegiates who beat him in the long jump were literal titans of the sport in LSU's JuVaughn Harrison (named to The Bowerman Watch List, collegiate track & field's highest honor) and Rayvon Grey (current No. 1 ranked athlete in the country in the event). He placed second overall in the high jump.
Coleman took the top spot in the men's 400, which he ran in 50.13. The performance ranks second in the event so far this season by a male Southland athlete and No. 160 in the nation.
Shannon came in 14th overall in the 400 with the seventh-best performance posted so far in the Southland at 1:00.89. She also ran a leg of the women's 4x400 unit that put up a time of 4:19.42.
Southland weekly award winners are nominated and voted upon by each school's sports information director of the sport. Voting for one's own athletes is not permitted. To earn honorable mention, a student-athlete must appear on at least 25 percent of ballots.
The Privateers will look to build off their opening meet and will be off from competition for two weeks before returning with the McNeese Indoor Invite on Friday, Jan. 31.
