BATON ROUGE – Following their decorated collegiate careers as members of Derek Yush‘s throws group, former NCAA Champion Walter Henning and NCAA Championship veteran Jeremy Tuttle each added the title of LSU graduate to their resumes after earning their college degrees during Friday’s commencement exercises on campus.
Henning, who established himself as one of the NCAA’s leading throwers during his LSU career from 2009-11, earned his degree in interdisciplinary studies from the College of Humanities & Social Sciences, while Tuttle received his degree in sports administration from the College of Human Sciences & Education on Friday.
Henning is arguably the greatest thrower in the history of the LSU Track & Field program as a three-time NCAA Champion, six-time SEC Champion and seven-time All-American in his three season in Baton Rouge.
While capturing back-to-back NCAA Indoor titles in the weight throw in 2010 and 2011, Henning was also crowned the NCAA Outdoor Champion in the hammer throw in 2010 when he unleashed a winning throw of 238 feet, 10 inches on his sixth and final throw of the competition to move from second place to first place and win LSU’s first ever NCAA title in the event.
The former Bowerman Award semifinalist also swept SEC crowns in the weight throw indoors and hammer throw outdoors for each of his three seasons with the Tigers, including setting the SEC Indoor Championships meet record with his winning throw of 78-1 during his junior season in 2010. That mark also smashed his own LSU school record in the event, while he later set the school mark of 239-5 that year.
A native of Sierra Vista, Arizona, Tuttle was one of the team’s most versatile throwers during his four-year collegiate career from 2012-15 as a three-time NCAA qualifier in both the javelin and hammer throws.
An NCAA Championships semifinalist in the hammer throw during his junior season in 2014, Tuttle scored in six finals in three different throwing events at the SEC Championships during his collegiate career. He earned finishes of fourth place in 2012, eighth place in 2013 and sixth place in 2015 in the hammer throw; while also placing fifth in 2012 and seventh in 2013 in the javelin; and seventh in the weight throw in 2014 while lining up for the Tigers at the SEC Championships during his time in Baton Rouge.
Tuttle finished off his career ranked among the Top 10 performers in school history in each of those three throwing events with career-best marks of 216-8 to rank No. 4 in the hammer throw, 227-6 to rank No. 9 in the javelin and 63-9 to rank No. 10 in the weight throw on LSU’s all-time performance lists.