It was a busy summer for LSU athletics. While students enjoyed their time off from hectic school life, LSU athletes continued training and striving toward their goals.From the College World Series, to a track and field championship run and on to the Olympics, LSU fans have had a lot to cheer for during the summer break.June was an exciting time for baseball fans. Between the CWS, the MLB draft and coaching changes, LSU baseball coach Paul Mainieri has been a busy man.The Tigers won 23 consecutive games on the way to the CWS, eventually snapping the streak with a super regional loss to UC Irvine. But the Tigers, who thrived on late-inning heroics, ironically saw their season end after a ninth-inning grand slam by North Carolina catcher Tim Federowicz in the third game of the World Series.”We ran out of miracles,” Mainieri said after the loss. “It’s been a great year. So many great things have happened to our kids because of them — because of what they put into it.”The Tigers finished 1-2 in the CWS with a win against Rice and two losses against North Carolina. The victory against the Owls was the Tigers’ first CWS win since 2000, LSU’s most recent title.Caught in all the CWS      drama, seven Tigers were selected in the MLB draft. Two were seniors: third baseman Michael Hollander and pitcher Jared Bradford. Junior pitchers Louis Coleman, Blake Martin, Jordan Brown, Ryan Verdugo and junior first baseman Matt Clark were also selected. Verdugo, Clark and Martin chose to forego their senior seasons and signed professional baseball contracts. Coleman and Brown will return to the Tigers’ pitching staff.Players were not the only departures during the offseason as Mainieri had holes to fill on his coaching staff after the CWS. Former LSU coaches Terry Rooney and Cliff Goodwin departed to accept positions at Central Florida. “I’m sorry to see Terry and Cliff go but very thankful for the effort put in,” Mainieri said after their departure. “They will always have made their mark on the program here at LSU, but I am equally as excited about the future of the program.”Mainieri  hired former Michigan State coach David Grewe as associate head coach to replace Rooney and promoted volunteer assistant coach Javi Sanchez to hitting coach as Goodwin’s replacement. Grewe served as Mainieri’s assistant for three years at Notre Dame.”During those three years that he coached with me, David and I forged a very close bond — beyond a friendship really,” Mainieri said. “His vision of the game and his knowledge of what it takes to win, recruit players, develop players and work in a cohesive way with the other staff members was something that to me was off the charts.”But the baseball team was not the only team to lose personnel. The Golden State Warriors drafted former LSU forward Anthony Randolph with the 14th pick in June’s NBA draft.Randolph averaged 15.6 points and 8.5 rebounds per game in one season with the Tigers. Randolph became the fourth LSU forward in four years to be drafted, joining former players Brandon Bass, Tyrus Thomas and Glen Davis.In July the Athletic Department broke ground on the new basketball practice facility on the north side of the PMAC. The facility is scheduled to be complete in October. Women’s basketball coach Van Chancellor recently added a new member to his staff, Kenya Larkin-Landers. Larkin-Landers spent the past three seasons at Oklahoma as an assistant coach. She replaces former LSU assistant Yolanda Wells-Broughton, who was named head coach at Texas Southern in July.Of all University athletic programs, the LSU track and field program probably had the most to boast about over the summer.In June the women’s team won the NCAA Outdoor Championships against Arizona State in a nail biter that went down to the last event. “I’ve been around for a lot of national championships, but this one is special because it’s my first as a head coach,” said LSU track and field coach Dennis Shaver. “It’s great to see all of [the athletes’] hard work pay off. That’s the most satisfying thing, especially for our seniors who went out as national champions for the first time.”Former LSU athlete Richard Thompson was named National Track Athlete of the Year by the U.S. Track and Field Association and qualified for the Olympics where he won the silver medal in the 100-meter dash for Trinidad and Tobago. Thompson also anchored the silver medal-winning 4×100 meter relay team.Former LSU hurdler Lolo Jones, representing the United States, finished seventh in the finals of the omen’s 100-meter hurdles in Beijing, and former LSU athlete Muna Lee finished fourth in the women’s’ 200-meter dash for the United States.—-Contact Tyler Harvey at [email protected]