BATON ROUGE – The LSU Track & Field teams certainly took advantage of their “last chance” to qualify for the NCAA Championships on Friday afternoon as Tiger senior Michael Lauro and Lady Tiger sophomore Denise Hinton set personal bests with qualifying marks in the weight throw at LSU’s NCAA Indoor Qualifier held at the Carl Maddox Field House.
Both Lauro and Hinton eclipsed the NCAA qualifying standard Friday with personal bests that rank No. 6 in the men’s and women’s NCAA rankings for the 2012 indoor season.
Lauro kicked off the LSU NCAA Indoor Qualifier by adding nearly two feet to his PR with a top throw of 72 feet, 6 ¼ inches on his fifth attempt of the competition. He actually improved upon his previous season best of 69-2 ½ on three throws during Friday’s action with marks of 69-9 ¾ on his second attempt and 70-1 on his fourth attempt before finishing with the NCAA’s No. 6-ranked mark this season at 72-6 ¼.
It only took one throw for Hinton to add her name to LSU’s NCAA Championship roster as she broke her own school record in the women’s weight throw by more than 18 inches with an opening throw of 69-9 ¾ to move herself into the No. 6 spot in the NCAA rankings for the 2012 season.
The 2012 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships are just seven days away as the event is scheduled to run March 9-10 of next week at the Jacksons Indoor Track in Nampa, Idaho.
Lauro, who earned All-SEC honors with a runner-up finish in the weight throw with his previous seasonal best of 69-2 ½ at the SEC Championships on Sunday, entered with a PR of 70-7 in the event.
“Last week, I was being too methodical at the beginning of the throw. I had to move the ball faster during my first two turns, but I didn’t speed it up until the end,” Lauro said. “Today, I pushed the ball harder at the start of the throw so there was no hesitation on the third and fourth turns. That’s what I need to be sure to do at nationals so I can score some big points for our team next weekend.
“We’ll continue to work on the speed stuff this week. I’m sure we’ll have another explosive workout with the weight before nationals. I really feel like I’m peaking at the right time of the season.”
Before making her debut at the SEC Indoor Championships a week ago, Hinton had set PRs in each of the previous six meets this season, including a school record of 68-3 ¼ set at the LSU Twilight on Feb. 17 for the NCAA’s No. 14-ranked performance on the season. She then kicked off the postseason by finishing in ninth place in the weight throw at the SEC Championships with a series-best effort of 58-6 ¾.
Hinton certainly bounced back in a big way on Friday afternoon as her NCAA qualifying effort of 69-9 ¾ has given her an opportunity to compete for All-America honors next weekend.
“I felt really relaxed and confident in myself today. I had a great week of practice and felt like I was ready to throw well,” Hinton said. “I knew coming in that this could be my last meet of the year, and that’s how I approached it. I came out like I had nothing to lose, and hit a bit one on my first throw.”
Lady Tiger sophomore Lynnika Pitts became the third LSU athlete to crack the NCAA’s Top 10 Friday as she solidified her qualifying position in the women’s triple jump for the NCAA Championships.
While entering the meet as the No. 20-ranked triple jumper nationally with a 2012 indoor seasonal best of 42-2 ¾, Pitts set two lifetime PRs during Friday’s competition with marks of 42-3 ½ on her third jump and 42-9 ¾ on her sixth jump of the afternoon to move into a tie for the No. 8 spot on the NCAA rankings this season. That is sure to earn her ticket to the NCAA Indoor Championships next weekend.
“We now have three additional entries into the NCAA meet next weekend that we weren’t sure we’d have coming in,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “It speaks a lot of those athletes who competed well and gave themselves an opportunity to score points for our team when it counts the most next weekend.”
Junior Brittany Porter posted her best mark indoors as a Lady Tiger after earning a runner-up finish in the long jump with a series-best mark of 20-1 ½ to tie for No. 30 on the national list this season.
Freshman Trevor Sansone was among the standout performers on the track during this year’s LSU NCAA Indoor Qualifier with three personal-best performances in the 60-meter dash. After opening with a best of 6.84 seconds in the preliminary round, Sansone followed with PRs of 6.81 in the semifinal and 6.78 in the final en route to a third-place finish in the men’s 60-meter dash.
The Tigers and Lady Tigers actually swept 60-meter titles on Friday night as senior Keyth Talley won the men’s crown in 6.73 and junior Takeia Pinckney won the women’s crown in 7.40.
Other LSU athletes enjoying personal-best efforts on Friday include sophomore Shermund Allsop (6.82) in the 60 meters, sophomore Jasmin Stowers (7.51) in the 60 meters, junior Latoya McDermott (7.62) in the 60 meters, freshman Alex Gochenour (18-3) in the long jump, freshman Rodney Brown (56-3) for the shot put and freshman Jeremy Tuttle (49-7 ¾) in the shot put.