LSU Gold
Position
Throws
Height
6'0
Class
Sophomore
Hometown
Kings Park, N.Y.
Previous School
North Carolina
High School
St. Anthony's HS

Events: Weight Throw (78-1), Hammer Throw (239-5)

3-time NCAA Champion
7-time All-American
NCAA Mideast Regional Champion
6-time SEC Champion
6-time All-SEC
2010 Bowerman Award Semifinalist
2010 SEC Men’s Indoor Field Event Athlete of the Year

CAREER CAPSULE
Arguably the greatest thrower in the history of the LSU men’s track and field program … Competed with the Tigers for three seasons from 2009-11 … Joined the program as a sophomore in 2009 following his freshman season at the University of North Carolina … Captured three NCAA titles during his collegiate career … That includes back-to-back NCAA Indoor titles in the 35-pound weight throw in 2010 and 2011 and an NCAA Outdoor crown in the hammer throw in 2010 … Swept SEC titles in the weight throw indoors and hammer throw outdoors three years in a row from 2009-11 … Was a perfect 8-0 in conference championships during his collegiate career as he also swept ACC titles as a freshman in 2008 while competing for North Carolina … Owned an impressive streak of 18-straight wins against collegiate competition in the weight throw and hammer throw from 2010-11 … Wrapped up his college career as LSU’s school record holder in the weight throw (78-1) and hammer throw (239-5) … Established the SEC Indoor Championships meet record in the weight throw after recording his personal record of 78-1 in 2010.

2011
Defended his NCAA crown in the 35-pound weight throw with a victory at the 2011 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships held in College Station, Texas … Outdistanced his nearest competitor by nearly three feet at the NCAA Indoor meet with a winning mark of 72 feet, 8 ½ inches on his sixth and final throw of the competition … Finished ahead of Virginia Tech’s Alexander Ziegler (69-9 ½) in the final event standings … Added a seventh career All-America honor during the outdoor season with a bronze-medal winning third-place finish in the hammer throw at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Des Moines, Iowa … Came up short in his NCAA title defense as he threw 226-5 at the national meet to finish behind only Ziegler (238-6) and Virginia Tech’s Marcel Lomnicky (237-4) … Qualified for the NCAA Championships after posting a 2011 seasonal best in the hammer throw with his mark of 226-8 at the NCAA East Preliminary Rounds held in Bloomington, Ind. … Swept SEC titles in the weight throw indoors and hammer throw outdoors for the third-straight season while wrapping up his career with a perfect 6-0 record at the SEC Championships … Won his third-straight SEC Outdoor crown in the hammer throw with his mark of 225-4 … Became just the third hammer thrower in SEC history to win three SEC Outdoor titles, along with Georgia’s Andras Haklits (2000-02) and Auburn’s Cory Martin (2005, 2007-08) … Also won his third-straight Penn Relays hammer crown after throwing 208-3 in the regular-season finale … Became the first athlete in 51 years to win three-straight Penn Relays titles since Boston University’s John Lawlor from 1958-60 … Captured a third-straight SEC Indoor title in the weight throw with a winning mark of 73-8 … Won all five weight throw events in which he competed in 2011, which also includes the LSU Twilight (76-6 ¼), New Balance Collegiate Invitational (72-7) and Texas A&M Dual Meet (72-3 ¾) … His seasonal best of 76-6 ¼ in the weight throw ranked No. 1 for the NCAA on the season … Was a member of the Bowerman Award Men’s Watch List during the indoor season … Was also named the South Central Region Men’s Indoor Field Athlete of the Year by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association … Opened the outdoor season with a win in the hammer throw at the LSU Invitational (216-9) … Saw an amazing streak of 18-straight victories against collegiate competition come to an end with after finishing in fifth place in the hammer throw at the Texas Relays (207-7) … Had won his previous 18 competitions in both the weight throw and hammer throw as he had not tasted defeat since an NCAA runner-up finish in the hammer throw at the 2009 NCAA Outdoor Championships … Also competed in the shot put at the SEC Championships both indoors and outdoors in 2011 … Threw 52-8 to take 13th place in the event at the SEC Indoor Championships … Recorded a top mark of 48-4 to take 12th place at the SEC Outdoor Championships … Named the LSU Male Athlete of the Year by the Tiger Athletic Foundation at the TAF’s annual Academic Excellence Gala … Also cleaned up with four awards at the second-annual LSU Track & Field Team Awards and Alumni Recognition Banquet … Winner of the Glenn “Slats” Hardin Award, Most Outstanding Field Athlete Award, Eye of the Tiger Award and L Club Captain Award at the team banquet.

2010
The most dominant thrower in the NCAA during his junior season in 2010 … Won all 12 competitions in which he entered during the season between the weight throw indoors and hammer throw outdoors … Became the first collegiate thrower to sweep NCAA titles in the weight throw indoors and hammer throw outdoors since Spyridon Jullien of Virginia Tech in 2006 … The first LSU Tiger to be crowned the NCAA champion in both events … Is the first LSU thrower to win an NCAA championship since Simon Williams won the shot put outdoors in 1991 … Also swept SEC Indoor and SEC Outdoor titles for the second year in a row … Took home the NCAA hammer throw title at the 2010 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Ore., with a series-best mark of 238 feet, 10 inches on his sixth and final attempt of the competition … Broke his own school record during the outdoor season as he posted a personal-best mark of 239-5 in taking the title at the Miami Elite Invitational … Finished the season with the No. 2-ranked mark on the NCAA’s performance list … Successfully defended his SEC crown with a top mark of 237-3 at the SEC Outdoor Championships in Knoxville, Tenn. … Finished more than 13 feet ahead of his nearest competitor at the SEC meet … Also captured hammer throw titles outdoors at the Texas Relays (236-1), LSU Alumni Gold (233-1) and Penn Relays (237-9) … Named the College Men’s Individual Athlete of the Meet at the Penn Relays with the fifth-longest throw in meet history and the longest throw at the Penn Relays in the last 15 years … Capped a dominant indoor season with a national title in the 35-pound weight throw … Threw 77-3 ¾ to take the title at the NCAA Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Ark. … Defended his indoor conference title with a record-setting performance at the SEC Indoor Championships … Set a new personal best and shattered his own indoor school record with a winning mark of 78-1 at the SEC meet … His mark was also a new SEC Indoor Championships meet record, breaking the previous mark of 76-5 set in 2007 by former Auburn national champion Cory Martin … It also ranked No. 1 among all collegiate performers during the 2010 season … Finished nearly 11 feet farther than his closest competitor at the conference meet … Also won weight throw titles at the Purple Tiger Invitational (71-4 ¾), New Mexico Invitational (75-8), New Balance Collegiate Invitational (76-6 ½) and Tyson Invitational (73-0) … Honored for his performance during the indoor season as the SEC Men’s Indoor Field Event Athlete of the Year and the USTFCCCA South Central Region Men’s Field Athlete of the Year … Honored at the inaugural LSU Track & Field Team Awards and Alumni Recognition Banquet as the recipient of the Glenn “Slats” Hardin Award, honoring the Most Outstanding Performer on the men’s team for the 2009 outdoor track and field, 2009 cross country and 2010 indoor track and field seasons … Was honored as the SEC Male Field Athlete of the Week four times during the 2010 season.

2009
Enjoyed a record-setting sophomore campaign in his first season at LSU in 2009 … Shattered LSU school records in both the weight throw (74-5 ½) and hammer throw (235-11) while setting new personal bests in the events … Wrapped up the collegiate season as the NCAA runner-up in the hammer throw with a mark of 232-0 in the national final at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships … Became the first LSU Tiger to be crowned SEC champion in the hammer throw with his performance at the SEC Outdoor Championships … Won an SEC title in the event after throwing 229-5 at the conference meet … Also captured the event crown at the NCAA Mideast Regional Championships with a mark of 231-6 … Established his personal best of 235-11 in winning the hammer throw title at the LSU Alumni Gold … Also won hammer throw titles at the Sun Angel Classic (235-5) and Penn Relays (225-6) … Earned All-America honors during the indoor season with a fourth-place finish in the weight throw at the NCAA Indoor Championships in College Station, Texas … Threw 73-4 ½ in the weight throw at the NCAA Indoor meet … Was crowned conference champion in the weight throw with a personal-best mark of 74-5 ½ at the SEC Indoor Championships … Also won weight throw titles at the Purple Tiger Classic (72-3 ¾), SEC/Big 12 Challenge (73-4 ¾), New Balance Collegiate Invitational (72-8 ½) and Tyson Invitational (72-3 ¾) … His performance at the Purple Tiger Classic, SEC/Big 12 Challenge and New Balance Collegiate Invitational are meet records … Also competed in the shot put in three meets during the indoor season … Finished in 12th-place at the SEC Indoor Championships with a seasonal-best throw of 54-1 ¼ … Followed the collegiate season with an appearance in the hammer competition at the USA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Ore.

2008 (at North Carolina)
Made an immediate impact during his freshman season at the University of North Carolina where he established himself as the premier young thrower in collegiate track and field … Earned All-America honors during the 2008 indoor season after finishing third in the weight throw at the NCAA Indoor Championships with a school-record mark of 72 feet, 3 inches … His mark of 72-3 in the weight throw is also a world junior record in the event … Was a two-time ACC champion during his freshman season as he captured conference titles in the weight throw (71-0 ¾) and the hammer throw (225-5) at the ACC Championships … His personal-best mark of 225-5 in the 16-lb. hammer ranks No. 2 all-time at North Carolina and is the national junior record in the event … It was also the fourth-ranked throw in the country at the time of his transfer in April 2008 … Also scored in the shot put at the ACC Indoor Championships with a seventh-place finish in the event.

PRIOR TO LSU
Erased any doubts that he is the premier young hammer thrower in the world with his gold-medal winning performance in the 6-kg. hammer throw at the 2008 IAAF World Junior Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland … Became the first American to win the World Junior title in the event by breaking his own American junior record on his sixth and final attempt with a throw of 252 feet, 4 inches … Is the first American to bring home a gold medal in the hammer throw in any major international competition since Harold Connolly at the 1956 Olympic Games … Earned the right to represent the United States at the meet by winning a gold medal at the 2008 USA Junior Outdoor Championships with a meet-record throw of 242-4 … Was a two-time Track and Field News Athlete of the Year and a two-time New York Gatorade Athlete of the Year while competing for St. Anthony’s High School in South Huntington, N.Y. … Considered the nation’s top throws recruit for the Class of 2007 … Was a seven-time high school national champion as he wrapped up his high school career as a four-time national champion in the weight throw, a two-time national champion in the hammer throw and a national champion in the shot put … Is the national record holder in both the 25-lb. weight throw and 12-lb. hammer throw … Competed internationally in the hammer throw while representing the United States at the 2005 IAAF World Youth Championships and the 2006 IAAF World Junior Championships … Won a gold medal in the event at the 2007 Pan American Junior Championships in Sao Paulo, Brazil … Was a member of the Pro-Team and Kolbe Society during his career at St. Anthony’s.

PERSONAL
Full name is Walter John Henning … Born on Jan. 24, 1989 in Smithtown, N.Y. … Parents are Walter and Mary Beth Henning … Younger sister, Karen, is a freshman hammer thrower at LSU … Majoring in general studies … Plans to become a police officer following his athletic career.

 

Full Bio