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Greatest Tigers of the Decade: #12 Lolo Jones

#12 Lolo Jones
#12 Lolo Jones

LSU has a long and storied history in track, but only once has a freshman earned All-American honors in indoor track: Lolo Jones.  She missed out on outdoor All-American honors by one place in the NCAA championships, but that is about the only blemish on her stellar career.

She would win her first national title in 2002, in the 60m hurdles during the indoor season.  That would help the Lady Tigers win the indoor title.  She finished second in the 110m in the outdoor season, and she ran on the 4x100 team that also finished second.  Lolo Jones also was crowned the 100m hurdles SEC champ.  This was all prelude to a stunning junior season in which she would anchor a team that would win both the indoor and outdoor national titles.

Jones' junior indoor year is when she blossomed into a star.  She did not lose the 60m hurdles all season long, posting an almost unheard of undefeated season in her specialty event.  She won back-to-back hurdle events at the SEC Championships, the first time ever for a Lady Tiger.  Then she went out and earned All-America honors in the 60m dash, showing she wasn't just a hurdler.  She repeated as SEC champ in the 100m hurdles and earned All-America honors in the event.  The 4x100 team she ran on won every race it entered, including the prestigious Penn Relays and of course the NCAA Championships.  The team set an NCAA record en route to winning the title.  Jones had two events (60m hurdles in indoor and 4x100 relay in outdoor) in which she never lost a race.

Jones would lose in the 60m hurdles for the first time in nearly three years by finishing second in the NCAA Championships.  It was enough to key a third straight indoor team title.  She would again earn All American honors in the 100m hurdles and would win yet another national title, running the front leg of the 4x100 relay squad. 

Jones graduated as an 11-time All American and the owner of three individual national titles and a member of four team national champions.  And while not really a factor in this list, she would go on to even greater heights upon leaving LSU and establish herself as the World Champion in the 100m hurdles.  Lolo Jones is an all-time Tiger great and better at what she does than anyone else in the world.