BATON ROUGE — Following his performance in one of the most dramatic finishes of an event at the Penn Relays this past weekend, LSU senior Jeremy Hicks was named the SEC Male Field Athlete of the Week with the release of the league’s weekly awards on Tuesday afternoon.
This marks the first time in his collegiate career that Hicks has been honored by the SEC with one of its weekly awards, while it also marks the 10th time this season that an LSU athlete has earned SEC Athlete of the Week honors dating back to the beginning of the indoor season.
Hicks became the first Tiger to win the long jump crown at the Penn Relays since LSU great John Moffitt did so in 2004 when he also won the Olympic silver medal in the event.
Hicks won the title on Friday night with his last jump of the competition as he recorded an NCAA leading mark and wind-legal mark of 26 feet, 3 inches, which is also a new outdoor personal best and ranks No. 6 on LSU’s all-time outdoor performance list in the event. Not only that, but Hicks has now jumped more than 26 feet four times during the 2009 season.
After leading the competition through five rounds with a mark of 25-3 ?, Hicks was passed in the sixth round by NCAA Indoor champion Nicholas Gordon of Nebraska, who posted a leading 25-6 on his last attempt. But Hicks passed the Husker star on his final attempt with a winning mark of 26-3 to take the title in one of the most dramatic finishes to an event all weekend long.
For his performance, Hicks became the first LSU Tiger to be named the College Men’s Athlete of the Meet for Individual Events in the storied history of the Penn Relays.