BATON ROUGE — LSU pole vaulter Rachel Laurent was honored by the Southeastern Conference on Thursday afternoon as she was named the Co-SEC Female Freshman Field Event Athlete of the Year for the 2009 indoor season.
Laurent made history at the 2009 SEC Indoor Track and Field Championships this past weekend as she became the first Lady Tiger in program history to be crowned a SEC champion in the pole vault with her new overall personal best clearance of 14 feet, ? inch.
The mark breaks her own indoor school record of 13-9 ? set Feb. 13 at the Tyson Invitational and ranks as the No. 3 performance in the NCAA this indoor season.
Not only that, but Laurent is also one of five LSU athletes to earn a first-team all-conference nod by winning an individual SEC title at the Nutter Field House in Lexington, Ky., last weekend.
Junior Samantha Henry received a pair of first-team All-SEC selections by sweeping SEC sprint titles in the 60 meters and 200 meters, joining LSU greats Peta-Gaye Dowdie (2000) and Muna Lee (2002) as the only three Lady Tigers to accomplish the impressive sweep at the SEC Indoor Championships. Henry set seasonal bests of 7.19 in the 60 meters and 23.30 in the 200 meters.
Three Tigers earned first-team All-SEC accolades by winning their respective events at the meet, including junior Trindon Holliday in the 60 meters, sophomore Walter Henning in the weight throw and freshman sensation Robert Simmons in the 400 meters.
Both Holliday (6.56) and Henning (74-5 ?) rank No. 2 in the NCAA in their events with the start of the NCAA Championships looming, while Simmons (46.22) ranks No. 4 in his specialty.
In addition, four Lady Tigers received second-team All-SEC recognition after finishing runner-up in their respective events at the SEC Indoor Championships, including senior Andrea Linton in the triple jump, junior LaTavia Thomas in the 800 meters, sophomore Brittani Carter in the high jump and sophomore Tenaya Jones in the 60-meter hurdles.
For their performance, both Laurent and Simmons were named to the SEC All-Freshman Team in recognition of being the top freshman finisher in their events at the SEC meet. A pair of LSU throwers also earned All-Freshman honors as the league’s top rookie finisher. Michael Lauro took fourth place in the men’s weight throw, while Allison Horner placed fifth in the women’s weight.