LSU junior runner LaTavia Thomas was named the Most Outstanding Female Performer at the New Balance Collegiate Invitational on Saturday in New York.
Thomas set an NCAA-leading time (2 minutes, 4.54 seconds) in her first 800-meter race of the 2009 season, breaking her own meet record set last year.Thomas also anchored the winning 4×400-meter relay team, which set its first NCAA provisional qualifying time of the year at 3 minutes 38.84 seconds.Thomas became the first Lady Tiger to set an automatic qualifying time for the Indoor Track and Field Championships.Junior Samantha Henry, who teamed with Thomas in the 4×400, set an NCAA provisional qualifying time in the 200-meter dash (23.61 seconds) after setting an NCAA provisional qualifying time in the 60-meter dash on Friday (7.33 seconds).Sophomore and New York native Walter Henning won the weight throw with a meet record of 72 feet, 8 1/2 inches, becoming the first LSU athlete to win the event at the New Balance Collegiate Invitational.’It was really nice to come back to the same circle where I threw for so many years in high school and set a meet record,” Henning said in a news releaseJunior Josh Dominguez set his first provisional mark of his career with an NCAA provisional clearance of 17 feet, 0 3/4 inches in the pole vault.The Tigers racked up 60 points finishing second to Baylor’s 65 points, while the Lady Tigers finished sixth with 43 points.
 
 
 
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Contact Rowan Kavner at [email protected]