BATON ROUGE — Seven LSU track and field athletes have gathered in Columbus, Ohio, to compete against the nation’s best athletes ages 14-19 at the 2008 USA Junior Outdoor Track and Field Championships beginning Friday at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.
Each is looking to finish in the top two of their respective event and earn the right to represent the United States at the 2008 IAAF World Junior Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, in July.
LSU will be well-represented at this year’s USA Junior Outdoor Championships as two current student-athletes and five incoming recruits are scheduled to compete through Sunday.
Lady Tiger freshmen Brittany Hall and Tenaya Jones will join many of the nation’s top freshman collegians in the competition as Hall is among the favorites to win the 800-meter run and Jones is scheduled to line up in the 100-meter hurdles. The first round of the 800 meters will take place on Friday at 5:05 p.m. CDT, while the first round of the 100 hurdles follows Saturday at 4:45 p.m.
Hall enters the meet with the field’s top seed time in the 800 meters after clocking a seasonal best 2 minutes, 5.95 seconds in a fifth-place finish in the event at the SEC Outdoor Championships on May 18. She also finished the season as the third-ranked freshman in the NCAA in 2008.
Jones is a contender in the 100 hurdles as she will line up with a seasonal best wind-legal time of 13.62 seconds, which is the ninth-fastest time in a deep field.
The highlight of Jones’ rookie year came at the SEC Indoor Championships when she helped lead a 1-2-3 sweep for the Lady Tigers in the 60-meter hurdles by finishing in third place with a seasonal best time of 8.30. After finishing the indoor season as the nation’s No. 1 freshman in the 60 hurdles, Jones was named to the SEC Indoor All-Freshman team for her performance.
Five talented recruits who represent the future of the LSU track and field program are also slated to compete this weekend, including sophomore transfer Walter Henning (hammer) and incoming freshmen Allison Horner (hammer), Brieanna Kennedy (discus, javelin), Rachel Laurent (pole vault) and Robert Simmons (200 meters, 400 meters).
Henning will join the Tigers in 2009 after spending his freshman season at the University of North Carolina where he earned All-America honors with a third-place finish in the weight throw at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
The two-time ACC champion has proven to be one of the top throws prospects in the United States after finishing the 2008 season with personal bests of 72 feet, 3 inches in the weight throw and 225-5 in the 16-lb. hammer throw. His mark in the weight throw is the school record at UNC.
Henning will drop down and throw the 6-kg. hammer at the USA Junior Championships as he has a personal best of 251-10, which is an American junior record in the event.
Horner is also one of the top young hammer throwers in the country as her personal best of 194-1 ranks No. 2 all-time among high school girls in the United States and is the top-ranked throw in the country this season. The reigning hammer throw champion at the Nike Outdoor Nationals set her personal best at the USATF Georgia Open Championships back on May 10.
The future of the LSU throws group will also be on display in the women’s javelin and discus as Kennedy is scheduled to compete in both events on Friday afternoon. She enters the meet with personal bests of 150-0 in the javelin and 149-3 in the discus.
Like Horner, Laurent ranks No. 2 all-time among high school girls in the United States in the pole vault after clearing a height of 14-0 at the Nollie Arcement Relays back in March.
Her mark of 14-0 is ranked No. 1 in this year’s field at the USA Junior Outdoor Track and Field Championships and is just 2 ? inches off the combined indoor and outdoor national record of 14-2 ? set by Tori Anthony in 2007. Laurent was recognized by Sports Illustrated for her feat as she appeared in the publication’s “Faces in the Crowd” section in the May issue.
And by signing Simmons to a National Letter of Intent, the Tigers have added one of the nation’s premier young quartermilers as he is set to line up in both the 200 meters and 400 meters this weekend. He enters the competition with a personal best of 21.11 in the 200, while his top time of 46.40 in the 400 ranks fifth in a talented field at the USA Juniors.
Simmons has already competed internationally while representing the United States after placing fourth in the 400 meters at the 2007 Pan American Junior Championships in Sao Paulo, Brazil, last summer. He set his personal best in the semifinal round of the competition.