The LSU men’s and women’s track teams saw a couple of things several people were expecting this season and a couple of breakout performances from athletes who had shown potential before but hadn’t acted on it yet.Junior thrower Walter Henning was the Tigers’ most prolific performer in both the indoor and outdoor campaigns. The Kings Park, N.Y., native was a model of consistency all season, winning every meet he competed in.Henning’s victories included a Southeastern Conference championship and an NCAA Championship in the indoor weight throw along with a performance at the prestigious Penn Relays that was good enough to name him College Men’s Individual Athlete of the Meet.Henning became the first Tiger to win the national championship in a throwing event. Always the team player, Henning was happier to net points for LSU toward the team championship than he was about his individual achievement.”This is absolutely awesome. I’m just so happy right now, getting this win,” Henning said after his national championship victory. “That’s exactly what it means, 10 points. The team is always more important than the individual.”But Henning wasn’t the only contributor for the Tigers at the national level this season. Sophomore hurdler Barrett Nugent and junior jumper Zedric Thomas had impressive seasons for the Tigers as well. Thomas contributed 13 points toward the Tigers’ national championship hopes at the NCAA Indoor meet. Competing in both the triple jump and the long jump, Thomas earned All-American honors in both events, finishing as the runner up in the triple jump and fourth in the long jump.Nugent also garnered All-American honors for the 60-meter hurdles at the NCAA Indoor meet. After posting a blistering 7.60-second school record in the preliminaries, Nugent finished with a 7.65-second time in the finals to earn fourth place in the event.”Nugent has just made an incredible turnaround from last year’s indoor season, where things didn’t go very well at all and he was not even a national qualifier, to this year, where he’s a national contender in the 60-meter hurdle race,” said LSU coach Dennis Shaver. “He’s been very consistent all year long.”The Tigers have three other athletes with top-10 performances in their events — freshman Damar Forbes in the long jump, senior Josh Dominguez in the pole vault and senior Richard Jones in the 800-meter run.LSU’s 4×100 relay team and the 4×400 relay team figure to be in the mix for the outdoor championships as well. The 4×100 team owns the No. 8 time in the country with a 39.43-second race at the Texas Relays. The 4×400 team is No. 11 in the country after a 3-minute, 5.8-second race at the LSU Relays.The Lady Tigers capped off an impressive season by finishing the outdoor regular season as the No. 1-ranked team.The Division I performance lists are owned by Lady Tiger sprinters, as they claim a top-5 spot in the 100-meter run, the 200-meter run, the 800-meter run and both the 4×100 and 4×400 relays.Senior sprinter and 12-time All-American Samantha Henry is poised to add three more All-American honors to her impressive resume. On the national performance lists, Henry has the No. 4 100-meter run, the No. 3 200-meter run and is a member of the 4×100 meter relay team that has the No. 2 time.The Lady Tigers own the top three spots in the country in the 800-meter run, with seniors LaTavia Thomas and Kayann Thompson and junior Brittany Hall all running seasonal-best times at the LSU Alumni Gold meet.”To win the championship it takes all of our athletes,” Shaver said. “There’s a real job for them to do to try and contribute in one way or another to help the team win the championship.”
 
 
 
—-Contact Luke Johnson at [email protected]