BATON ROUGE – LSU track and field standouts Walter Henning and Semoy Hackett have certainly enjoyed an outstanding 2011 indoor season as they prepare for the NCAA Championships next week, and they remain under consideration for the highest individual honor at the collegiate level with the release of the latest watch list for The Bowerman Award this week.
The Bowerman Award is collegiate track and field’s equivalent to the Heisman Trophy, and is awarded to the top male and top female athlete in the country each season.
This marks the third time this year that the committee has published its watch list, which includes 10 men and 10 women under consideration for the award to be presented following the outdoor season.
Henning, who was a semifinalist for the Bowerman Award a year ago, has proven to be the NCAA’s most dominant thrower over the past two seasons as he has won 16-straight competitions against collegiate opponents dating back to the start of the 2010 campaign. He has earned 10-straight victories in the weight throw indoors and six-straight victories in the hammer throw outdoors.
That includes a win in all four weight throw competitions in which he has appeared in 2011 while posting the national-leading mark of 76 feet, 6 ½ inches. He is a heavy favorite to defend the NCAA Indoor crown he won a year ago as he is more than five feet clear of the nation’s No. 2-ranked performer.
In her first season competing at the NCAA Division I level, Hackett has already established herself as one of the nation’s leading female sprinters while recording NCAA qualifying times in both the 60 meters and 200 meters to rank among the top-five performers nationwide in each event.
Hackett, who was also a Bowerman Award semifinalist while running for Lincoln University in 2010, has the nation’s No. 2 time of 22.84 seconds in the 200 meters and No. 5 time of 7.24 in the 60 meters.
In fact, the former 200-meter world leader set back-to-back indoor personal records at this past week with the SEC Indoor Championships when she followed a then world-leading mark of 22.86 in the preliminary round with a new indoor PR of 22.84 en route to a second-place All-SEC finish. Hackett’s time finished a split second behind the 22.78 posted by teammate and new world leader Kimberlyn Duncan.
Hackett added another All-SEC honor with a second-place finish in the 60-meter dash final, during which she clocked 7.25 in her first career appearance at the SEC Championships. Her 16 points helped lead LSU to its 23rd SEC team championship all-time on the women’s side and 12th all-time at the SEC Indoor meet.
2011 Bowerman Award Watch List
Name, Class, School, Events
MEN
Jeshua Anderson, Senior, Washington State, Hurdles
Robby Andrews, Sophomore, Virginia, Distance
Sam Chelanga, Senior, Liberty, Distance
Will Claye, Junior, Florida, Jumps
Jeff Demps, Sophomore/Junior, Florida, Sprints
Mason Finley, Sophomore, Kansas, Throws
Walter Henning, Senior, LSU, Throws
Kirani James, Sophomore, Alabama, Sprints
Erik Kynard, Sophomore, Kansas State, Jumps
Christian Taylor, Junior, Florida, Jumps
WOMEN
Jackie Areson, Senior, Tennessee, Distance
Jessica Beard, Senior, Texas A&M, Sprints
LaKya Brookins, Senior, South Carolina, Sprints
Ti’erra Brown, Senior, Miami (Fla.), Hurdles
Semoy Hackett, Junior, LSU, Sprints
Sheila Reid, Junior, Villanova, Distance
Tina Sutej, Junior, Arkansas, Pole Vault
Jeneba Tarmoh, Junior, Texas A&M, Sprints
Brianne Theisen, Senior, Oregon, Combined Events
Kim Williams, Senior, Florida State, Jumps