Freshman Rachel Laurent, who had high expectations coming into LSU as the nation’s No. 1 recruit in the pole vault in 2008, had not cleared 13 feet in her first three meets of the season. That changed Saturday at the Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark., with her NCAA automatic qualifying mark and LSU indoor record jump of 13 feet, 9 1/4 inches. She joins junior LaTavia Thomas as the second Lady Tiger to automatically qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships on March 13-14. “I felt very anxious and couldn’t wait to get out there and compete,” said Laurent in a news release. The Lady Tigers added two NCAA provisional marks in the 800-meter run in senior Kayann Thompson (second place, 2 minutes, 6.54 seconds) and sophomore Brittany Hall (third place, 2 minutes, 7.25 seconds). Sophomore Walter Henning won the weight throw for the fourth-straight meet with a throw of 72 feet, 3 3/4 inches, more than eight feet farther than the nearest competitor. Sophomore Tenaya Jones recorded her first NCAA provisional qualifying time in the 60-meter hurdles at 8.34 seconds. Sophomore high jumper Brittani Carter set an indoor personal best of 5 feet, 11 1/2 inches, improving her NCAA provisional qualifying mark. “While the women did well, I can’t really say the same thing about our men’s team as a whole,” said LSU coach Dennis Shaver said in a news release. “I was looking for continued improvement from them this week, and they simply failed to step it up as a group and be competitive.”
 
 
 
—-
Contact Rowan Kavner at [email protected]