BATON ROUGE — LSU sprinter Samantha Henry helped lead the Lady Tigers’ effort in their season opener at the Purple Tiger Classic this past weekend and was rewarded by being named the SEC Runner of the Week by the league office Tuesday.
Henry clocked an NCAA automatic qualifying time in the 60-meter dash with the nation’s fastest time and the third fastest time in the world this season at 7.26 seconds to win the event title at the Carl Maddox Fieldhouse on Saturday.
The sophomore from Kingston, Jamaica, was one of three Lady Tigers to qualify automatically for the NCAA Indoor Championships as senior Juanita Broaddus matched her step for step with a 7.26 in the finals of the 60-meter dash and junior Nickiesha Wilson claimed top honors in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.12 in the final.
This marks the first time in her career that Henry has been named the SEC Runner of the Week as she is now tied for sixth place on the school’s all-time indoor list in the 60 meters. She opened the competition with an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 7.31 in the prelims.
Henry and the rest of her Lady Tiger teammates will be back in action this weekend as they travel to Fayetteville, Ark., on Friday to compete in the Razorback Invitational hosted by the University of Arkansas at the Randal Tyson Track Center. The meet is scheduled to run through Saturday.