Even without senior NCAA champion Walter Henning and junior All-American Max Lauro, the LSU throwers impressed at the Louisiana Classics meet in Lafayette this weekend.
None of the 29 athletes who made the trip to College Station, Texas, for the NCAA Indoor Championships last week traveled to Lafayette for the first outdoor meet of 2011.
LSU coach Dennis Shaver insisted they stay home, rest and catch up on schoolwork from a busy indoor season. Therefore, it was up to a contingent of a little more than 50 athletes to represent LSU this weekend.
Junior Samia Stokes, the defending Southeastern Conference discus champion, came within inches of supplanting her personal record Saturday as she cruised to victory in the discus.
Stokes defended her title at the meet with a throw of 177 feet, 4 inches. The junior won the discus throw at last season’s Louisiana Classics meet with a mark of 166 feet, 1 inch.
Because of the limited space at indoor meets, throwers can’t compete in the discus, javelin or hammer throw events until the outdoor season, so several athletes were making their first appearances this season.
Senior Ross Roubion prefaced Stokes’ victory by eclipsing his previous personal best in the hammer throw by nearly eight feet when he launched the hammer 200 feet, 3 inches.
Roubion’s effort was good enough for a third-place finish and also put him at No. 8 on LSU’s all-time performance list in the event.
Junior Brieanna Kennedy took home the women’s title in the hammer throw with a mark of 171 feet, 11 inches, and javelin throwers Aaron Moore (215-5) and Annie Simoneaux (143-9) each grabbed third-place finishes to round off the meet for the throwers.
Freshman Keith Griffin and junior Richard Chautin also established new personal records en route to claiming individual titles.
Griffin completed the 400-meter dash in 47.4 seconds, and Chautin won the 1500-meter race with a 3-minute, 57.08-second finish.
LSU will test its new Mondo track surface for the first time next weekend when it hosts the LSU Relays.
 
____
Contact Luke Johnson at [email protected]