KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – With the men’s hammer throw scheduled to begin Friday at noon CT, the fifth-ranked Tigers had an opportunity for a fast start at the 2010 SEC Outdoor Track and Field Championships being held this weekend at the University of Tennessee’s Tom Black Track at LaPorte Stadium.
And the team rose to the occasion as junior All-American and NCAA Indoor champion Walter Henning defended his SEC Outdoor crown in the event with another dominating victory, while sophomore Michael Lauro, senior Chris Bless and junior Ross Roubion helped give the Tigers 20 points in their first event.
Henning entered the meet ranked No. 1 in the SEC and No. 2 in the NCAA this spring with a best mark of 239-5 set just over one month ago at the Miami Elite Invitational on April 10.
Henning never looked back after taking the lead in the first round of throws. He posted consecutive marks of 219-0, 231-7, 232-11, 232-10 and 233-7 before putting an exclamation point onto the end of his victory with a monster throw of 237-3 on his sixth and final attempt of the competition.
The junior from Kings Park, N.Y., finished more than 13 feet in front of his nearest competitor as Georgia standout Bransilav Danis earned all-conference honors with a mark of 223-11 for a second-place finish.
Henning has been unbeatable during his junior season as his victory at the SEC Championships on Friday afternoon marked his 11th win in 11 competitions in 2010 in the weight throw indoors and hammer throw outdoors. He has also proven to be the most dominant thrower in the SEC over the past two seasons as he has now captured back-to-back SEC Indoor titles in the 35-pound weight throw and SEC Outdoor titles in the hammer throw in his two seasons as an LSU Tiger in 2009 and 2010.
“That was my goal, to come out here and get a win and get our team off to a fast start,” Henning said. “It was my third-best throw of the year, so I’m happy with that. None of my throws were all that good technically and I didn’t feel like I had much speed today, but I’m really happy to come out with the win.”
The Tigers were impressive in their first event of this year’s SEC Outdoor Championships as they racked up a total of 20 points with four throwers earning a spot in the top eight of the final standings.
Lauro scored six points for the Tigers as he matched his third-place finish in the weight at the SEC Indoor Championships with a third-place finish in the hammer throw on Friday afternoon after unleashing a mark of 213-1 on his fourth throw of the competition. Lauro currently ranks No. 12 in the NCAA this campaign with a seasonal best and personal best of 217-8 heading in the NCAA Preliminary Rounds.
Bless threw 193-9 on his fourth attempt to finish in sixth place and score three points for the Tigers, while Roubion threw 190-1 on his sixth and final attempt to finish in eighth place and score one point.
“It always starts with a throwing event, and to score 20 points is awesome for our team. We needed that to get off to a fast start,” Henning said. “I’m going to stay on these guys in our other (throwing) events. Now it’s time for our sprinters, jumpers and distance runners to step it up for us.”
Like the Tigers, the Lady Tigers also got off to a fast start by scoring six points in the hammer throw with a fourth-place finish by senior Kim Williams and an eighth-place finish by sophomore Brieanna Kennedy.
Williams, who earned All-SEC honors with a runner-up finish at the SEC Outdoor meet in 2009, posted a top mark of 189-5 on her second attempt of the competition to take fourth place in her final appearance at the conference championships. Kennedy followed Williams’ top mark by setting a new personal best with a throw of 173-6 on her third attempt of the preliminary round.
The second day of competition at the 2010 SEC Outdoor Track & Field Championships was also a crucial day of qualifying for LSU as the Tigers and Lady Tigers positioned themselves for a run at the conference championship during Sunday’s final-round action at LaPorte Stadium.
In the first event on the track, senior LaTavia Thomas led a host of four LSU 800-meter runners to qualify for Sunday’s final as she won the second of three preliminary heats in 2 minutes, 6.72 seconds.
Thomas will be joined in the 800 final by fellow senior Kayann Thompson (2:06.04), junior Brittany Hall (2:06.70) and freshman Charlene Lipsey (2:06.88). Each finished runner-up in their respective prelim heat with Lipsey finishing runner-up to Thomas in the second race of the qualifying round.
The Lady Tigers also qualified four runners into the finals of the 200-meter dash to run on Sunday, led by the second-fastest preliminary time of the evening by senior Samantha Henry at 23.32 seconds. Also winning their preliminary heats were freshman Takeia Pinckney with a wind-legal personal best of 23.36, freshman Kimberlyn Duncan with a wind-legal personal best of 23.45 and junior Kenyanna Wilson with a qualifying time of 23.67. The women’s 200 meters was interrupted by a 59-minute weather delay.
Sophomore Cassandra Tate wrapped up the evening for the Lady Tigers by winning her prelim heat of the 400-meter hurdles with the third-fastest time of the qualifying round at 58.47.
While the Lady Tigers advanced nine athletes during Friday’s qualifying action, three Tigers earned spots in Sunday’s championship finals in the 800 meters and 400 hurdles.
SEC Indoor champion Richard Jones entered the meet as the league leader in the 800 meters and recorded the fastest qualifying time of the day at 1:48.31. He was followed closely by SEC Indoor runner-up Sadiki White, who was the second-fastest qualifier of the day with a new personal best of 1:48.35. White was the runner-up to Jones in the second preliminary heat of the evening.
In addition, sophomore James Thurn advanced to the final of the 400-meter hurdles after finishing third in his qualifying heat with a seasonal-best time of 53.00.
“We did what we had to do today on both the men’s and women’s teams to position ourselves for a run at the championship,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “Our hammer throwers got us off to a great start and we carried that momentum into the preliminary events on the track. It’s big for our women to get nine qualifiers in three events and for our men to get 20 points in the hammer and three qualifiers.
“I always tell the team that each day is a different track meet. That’s exactly how we’re going to approach it tomorrow. We had a great day today. It’s important that we follow that up with a big day tomorrow.”
LSU will continue its march toward this year’s conference championship Saturday as the field events will begin at 1:30 p.m. CT followed by the first events on the track at 5 p.m. Fans can access live results of the meet by logging on to the Flash Results website at www.flashresults.com.
Fans can also find up-to-the-minute and behind-the-scenes coverage of the Tigers and Lady Tigers by following @LSUTrackField on Twitter and by becoming a fan of the official LSU Track & Field page on Facebook. Results, photos and videos will be posted as they become available.