Henning Ends Collegiate Career Among All-Time Tiger Greats
Tigers Third Indoors, Fourth Outdoors at SEC Championships
When Walter Henning earned an All-American third-place finish in his final hammer throw appearance in an LSU uniform at the 2011 NCAA Outdoor Championships, he wrapped up his career as arguably the greatest thrower and one of the most dominant performers for the Tigers in the program’s storied history. Henning, who defended his NCAA Indoor crown in the 35-pound weight throw last year as a senior, captured three NCAA titles and six All-America honors in his three seasons with the Tigers. He was also unbeaten against SEC competition while sweeping SEC titles in the weight throw indoors and hammer throw outdoors in three-straight seasons from 2009-11. Starting with a win in the weight throw in his 2010 indoor opener at the Purple Tiger Invitational, Henning reeled off an impressive streak of 18-straight wins against collegiate competition between the indoor and outdoor seasons before falling in the hammer throw at the 2011 Texas Relays. Henning is LSU’s school-record holder in both the weight throw (78-1) and hammer throw (239-5).
The Tigers were unable to add to their trophy case with a win at the SEC Championships a year ago, but they were among the league’s best once again with a third-place finish indoors and a fourth-place finish outdoors in the final team standings. The Tigers earned a third-place finish at the SEC Indoor Championships for the second-straight season with their 98 points scored in three days of action at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Ark. LSU then scored 78 points outdoors en route to a fourth-place finish with the final team standings at the SEC Outdoor Championships held at Spec Towns Track in Athens, Ga. Taking home the men’s championships a year ago were Florida (148) indoors and Arkansas (147.5) outdoors at the SEC Championships.
Lady Tiger Carter Soars to New Heights in High Jump The 2011 season also saw the end of arguably the most prolific career for a high jumper in the history of the Lady Tiger program as Brittani Carter again earned her spot among the nation’s elite with her performance at the NCAA Championships. Carter added a pair of All-America honors to her resume in the high jump with a bronze-medal winning third-place finish at the NCAA Indoor meet and a tie for seventh-place finish at the NCAA Outdoor meet to lead the Lady Tigers in the jumps a year ago. Carter also defended her SEC Indoor crown in the high jump, while also setting a new lifetime PR with a seasonal-best clearance of 6-1 ¼ at the New Balance Collegiate Invitational during the indoor season. Carter is the only Lady Tiger high jumper to win at least three All-America honors in a career as she was a five-time All-American and two-time SEC champion with the Lady Tigers from 2008-11.
Lady Tigers Sweep SEC Championships in 2011 Season The Lady Tigers proved to be a dominant force in the Southeastern Conference once again in 2011 as they completed the season sweep of SEC Indoor and SEC Outdoor team titles for the ninth time in program history and the first time since the 2008 season with their performance at the SEC Championships. LSU kicked off its championship run at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Ark., by taking down the homestanding Arkansas Razorbacks by 17 points with a 135-118 victory in the final team standings at the SEC Indoor Championships. The Lady Tigers were even more impressive outdoors as they defended their SEC Outdoor crown with a 30-point victory over the Florida Gators by a score of 146-116 at Spec Towns Track in Athens, Ga., to claim their fourth SEC Outdoor Championship in five seasons. The Lady Tigers own 24 SEC team championships in their history with 12 indoor and 12 outdoor titles all-time.
Hackett Awarded SEC Commissioner’s Trophy as Top Scorer While the Lady Tigers have captured 24 conference championships during in their storied history, only seven athletes have received the SEC Commissioner’s Trophy as the top individual point scorer at the SEC Championships since Schowonda Williams became the first back in 1988. Lady Tiger junior Semoy Hackett added her name to that distinguished list with her performance in scoring a meet-best 20.5 points at the 2011 SEC Outdoor Championships in leading LSU to the team title. Hackett won a pair of SEC event titles with a win in the 100-meter dash and as the second leg on LSU’s winning 4x100-meter relay team. She added an All-SEC runner-up finish in the 200-meter dash en route to scoring 20.5 points for the meet and taking home the SEC Commissioner’s Trophy.
LSU Athletes Capture 11 SEC Event Titles While the Lady Tigers swept SEC Indoor and SEC Outdoor team championships during the 2011 campaign, LSU’s athletes were also impressive in winning a total of 11 SEC event titles on the season with five indoors and six outdoors to rank among the league leaders. Among those winning SEC Indoor titles a year ago were seniors Brittani Carter (high jump) and Walter Henning (weight throw), sophomore Kimberlyn Duncan (200 meters) and freshmen Jen Clayton (long jump) and Jasmin Stowers (60 hurdles). The Tigers and Lady Tigers followed by winning five individual SEC Outdoor titles, including Duncan (200 meters), Henning (hammer throw), Stowers (100 hurdles) and juniors Semoy Hackett (100 meters) and Barrett Nugent (110 hurdles). The Lady Tigers added a win in the 4x100-meter relay with Duncan and Hackett joining senior Kenyanna Wilson and junior Rebecca Alexander on the winning team.
Hylton Wins World Championships Bronze Medal in Relay After anchoring the Tigers to a national runner-up finish in the 4x400-meter relay in his final race of the collegiate season at the 2011 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships, Tiger junior and Jamaican 400-meter champion Riker Hylton led his nation to a bronze-medal winning third-place finish in the event in his first career appearance at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics held this past August in Daegu, South Korea. Hylton ran the third leg on the Jamaican relay team that clocked 3:00.10 to take its place on the medal podium behind the gold medalists from the United States (2:59.31) and the silver medalists from South Africa (2:59.87). Hylton also followed the collegiate season by setting a new personal record of 45.30 seconds in winning the Jamaican 400-meter dash title at the 2011 Jamaican National Senior Championships held at the National Stadium in Kingston.
Tigers, Lady Tigers Sign Top 10 Recruiting Classes in 2011 The LSU Track & Field program is sure to rely on an infusion of young talent if the Tigers and Lady Tigers are to compete for a national championship in 2012 as its 2011 recruiting class was ranked among the Top 10 nationally by Track & Field News in its December issue. The Lady Tigers feature the nation’s No. 6-ranked recruiting class as part of a team that is ready to defend SEC Indoor and SEC Outdoor team titles while competing for national championships in 2012. The Tigers also signed one of the country’s Top 10 recruiting classes on the men’s side as they are slated to compete this season with the No. 10-ranked class signed a year ago.
Stowers Emerges as NCAA Contender in Freshman Season The Lady Tigers boast one of the proudest traditions in the hurdle events in the history of collegiate track and field, and Jasmin Stowers certainly carried the torch with an All-American rookie campaign in 2011 as arguably the top freshman hurdler in the history of the program. After capturing the SEC Indoor crown in the 60-meter hurdles with a personal-record time of 8.12, Stowers earned her first career All-America honor with a sixth-place finish in the national final at the NCAA Indoor Championships. She then carried that momentum into the outdoor season as she completed the season sweep with a victory in the 100-meter hurdles at the SEC Outdoor Championships while running a wind-legal PR of 12.88. While the Lady Tigers have captured 10 SEC Outdoor titles in the 100-meter hurdles all-time, Stowers is the only freshman in program history to accomplish the feat.
School Records Fall Outdoors at Texas Relays LSU’s athletes were responsible for setting two new school records with their performance at the Texas Relays during the 2011 outdoor season as junior Rachel Laurent eclipsed her previous outdoor mark in the women’s pole vault and the men’s 4x200-meter relay team shattered one of the team’s long-standing relay records with a runaway victory in the relay final. After kicking off the outdoor season with a school-record clearance of 14-2 ½ in her victory at the LSU Tiger Relays, Laurent took third place overall at the Texas Relays as she raised her record to 14-3 ¼. The Tigers also set a new school record at the Texas Relays as they took the 4x200-meter relay crown with a winning time of 1 minute, 20.45 seconds. The team of Keyth Talley, Horatio Williams, Tristan Walker and Gabriel Mvumvure took down the 16-year-old school record of 1:20.85 that was previously set in 1995 by a team of Eddie Kennison, Milton Mallard, Byron Logan and Rohsaan Griffin.
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