BATON ROUGE — Sophomore Walter Henning made his much anticipated debut in an LSU uniform Friday at the Purple Tiger Classic, and his record-breaking performance earned him the SEC Male Field Athlete of the Week honor as announced by the league office Tuesday.
Henning shattered the LSU school record and Carl Maddox Field House facility record in the 35-pound weight throw with a personal best mark of 72 feet, 3 ? inches on his second attempt.
With his throw, the Kings Park, N.Y., native earned an NCAA automatic qualifying mark while breaking the previous school record of 69-11 ? set by former Tiger standout Dave Paddison back in 1994, as well as the previous facility record of 71-3 ? set by Christopher Epalle in 1991.
Not only that, but Henning eclipsed his previous personal record throw of 72-3 he set in an All-American third-place finish at the NCAA Championships as a freshman at North Carolina a year ago. After his first competition of the 2009 season, Henning ranks tied for No. 2 in the NCAA in the weight throw, while his mark ranks No. 1 in the SEC by more than seven feet.
Henning and the rest of the LSU track and field team will be back in action this weekend as they travel to College Station, Texas, on Saturday to compete in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge. The meet will be held at the Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium on the campus of Texas A&M, which is also set to play host to the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships on March 13-14.