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Track & Field Duo Earns SEC Weekly Honors

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Track & Field Duo Earns SEC Weekly Honors

BATON ROUGE – Two Lady Tigers have been honored by the Southeastern Conference office for their performance at the fourth-annual “Battle on the Bayou” on Saturday afternoon as senior hammer thrower Denise Hinton and freshman sprinter Jada Martin were named SEC Athletes of the Week in the wake of their personal-best performances.

Hinton has been recognized as the SEC Women’s Field Athlete of the Week for the third time in her collegiate career and Martin has been honored as the SEC Women’s Freshman of the Week for the first time in 2014 for their efforts in leading the Lady Tigers to the women’s team title at the “Battle on the Bayou” for the third-straight season.

Hinton made history with her victory in the women’s hammer throw as she took down LSU’s 10-year-old school record in the event with a winning mark of 209 feet, 6 inches on her third attempt.

Hinton, who entered the meet with a previous personal best of 202-0 set in a runner-up finish at the SEC Outdoor Championships a year ago, raised her PR by more than seven feet while smashing former All-American Britney Henry’s school record of 205-11 that had stood since the 2004 season. Hinton actually had three throws in her series that were better than her previous personal best as she also threw 204-1 in the second round and 202-4 in the fifth round along with her top mark of 209-6 in the third round for a new school record.

That performance moved Hinton into the No. 1 spot in the SEC rankings and the No. 6 spot in the NCAA rankings among hammer throwers for the 2014 outdoor season.

Hinton earned the women’s hammer title on Saturday over the 2013 SEC Outdoor champion Daina Levy of Kansas. Hinton turned the tables on her former SEC rival as she was the runner-up to Levy at the SEC Outdoor Championships a year ago when Levy won the SEC Outdoor crown as a freshman at Auburn. Levy finished runner-up to Hinton on Saturday with her top mark of the day at 206-0.

Martin emerged from the “Battle on the Bayou” as the top freshman sprinter in the country after setting a pair of wind-legal personal bests of 11.35 seconds to win the 100-meter dash and 23.19 to end in third place as the top collegian in the 200-meter dash during the meet held at LSU’s Bernie Moore Track Stadium.

Just one week after setting her previous personal best of 11.58 in the qualifying round at the Texas Relays, Martin smashed her 100-meter PR by more than two tenths of a second with a winning run of 11.35 to end up as the No. 1-ranked freshman and the No. 8-ranked sprinter among all classes in the NCAA rankings for 2014. She followed by smashing her previous 200-meter PR of 23.65 by nearly a half second with a new wind-legal best of 23.19. Martin’s PR of 23.19 makes her the No. 1-ranked freshman and the No. 8-ranked sprinter among all classes in the NCAA rankings for 2014 in the 200 meters as well.

Martin was the top collegian in the field as she trailed only LSU’s former national champion Kimberlyn Duncan (22.98) and former Kansas All-American Paris Daniels (23.17) in Saturday’s 200-meter final.

LSU’s SEC Athletes of the Week for 2014

SEC Men’s Field Athlete of the Week
April 1 – Rodney Brown

SEC Women’s Field Athlete of the Week
April 8 – Denise Hinton

SEC Women’s Freshman of the Week
March 25 – Rebekah Wales
April 8 – Jada Martin