BATON ROUGE – For the second week in a row, two Lady Tigers have been honored as Southeastern Conference Athletes of the Week for their performance, as junior Charlene Lipsey and sophomore Denise Hinton were recognized Tuesday among the league’s weekly award winners.
Lipsey has been named the SEC Women’s Runner of the Week for the first time in her career in the wake of her NCAA-leading season opener in the 800-meter run on Saturday at the Razorback Invitational.
Hinton has been honored as the SEC Women’s Co-Field Athlete of the Week following her school record and SEC-leading performance in the 20-pound weight throw during this weekend’s competition.
While making her 2012 season debut in the 800 meters on Saturday, Lipsey emerged as the NCAA leader and an NCAA title contender with an indoor personal record of 2 minutes, 3.79 seconds for the win in the invitational race at this year’s Razorback Invitational. In the win, Lipsey defeated Arkansas All-American Stephanie Brown (2:03.93) on her home track at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville.
Lipsey, who entered the meet with an indoor PR of 2:04.55 set during her sophomore season in 2011, rose to the top of the NCAA rankings for the 2012 campaign with the No. 3-ranked performance on LSU’s all-time indoor performance list in its storied history in the women’s 800-meter run.
A native of Hempstead, N.Y., Lipsey has continued her momentum from the 2011 season, which ended in a fourth-place finish at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
Hinton has been the breakout star for the Lady Tigers in 2012 as one of the nation’s premier performers in the weight throw while helping to lead the team in the field events.
Hinton shattered the LSU school record in the event with her runner-up finish on Saturday afternoon after unleashing a PR of 66 feet, 1 ½ inches for a mark that ranks No. 1 in the SEC and No. 14 in the NCAA on the season. Hinton eclipsed the 9-year-old school record by nearly one foot as former Lady Tiger Mallory McDonald set the previous mark of 65-2 ¾ during the 2003 indoor campaign.
A native of Peachtree City, Ga., Hinton has set personal bests in each of LSU’s three meets for the season with marks of 57-8 ½ at the Crimson Tide Indoor Opener on Jan. 14, 63-2 at the LSU vs. Texas A&M Dual Meet on Jan. 21 and 66-1 ½ at the Arkansas Razorback Invitational on Saturday afternoon.
LSU’s 2012 SEC Track & Field Athletes of the Week
SEC Women’s Runner of the Week
Jan. 24 – Cassandra Tate
Jan. 31 – Charlene Lipsey
SEC Women’s Field Athlete of the Week
Jan. 31 – Denise Hinton
SEC Women’s Freshman of the Week
Jan. 24 – Tori Bliss