LSU’s Henning moves into final

• By SHELDON MICKLES
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Jun 11, 2009 - Page: 1C

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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Long before severe thunderstorms and lightning put a damper on the first day of the NCAA Track and Field Championships on Wednesday night at Arkansas’ John McDonnell Field, LSU hammer thrower Walter Henning took what amounted to a walk in the park.

In the opening event of the four-day competition Wednesday morning, Henning needed just one big throw to qualify for Friday’s hammer final.

His toss of 229 feet right down the middle of the landing area easily surpassed the 223-1 needed to earn a spot in the final, allowing him to take the rest of the day off. It was the longest throw of the day by 3 feet.

“The goal was to get the automatic standard and qualify for the final,” said Henning, who ranked second in the nation this spring with a best of 235-10. “I wanted to take one throw, qualify and go home (to the hotel) and rest.”

Henning’s mighty throw was just the start of a good day for LSU’s teams.

Before the competition was halted at 7:03 p.m. and subsequently delayed for more than three hours, the LSU men’s and women’s teams did what they could do in events contested earlier in the day and early Wednesday evening.

The third-ranked Lady Tigers advanced eight individuals and a relay team, while the fifth-ranked Tigers moved along four individuals and a relay to the next round before persistent rain and lightning brought on a delay that lasted until 10:15 p.m.

Among the events pushed back to late Wednesday were the semifinals of the men’s and women’s 100 meters, an event where LSU athletes stood out in the preliminary heats before the severe weather rolled through.

The Tigers’ Trindon Holliday, the national leader coming into the meet, wowed the crowd in winning his heat with a personal-record time of 10.00 seconds, just after the Lady Tigers advanced four athletes to the semifinals.

Holliday, who needed to just finish in the top three of his heat to advance, put his competition away in the first 40 meters. He continued to pull away in the middle of the race and shut it down in the final five meters knowing he’d done exactly what he needed to do.

If he hadn’t coasted to the finish line, Holliday would have gone under 10 seconds for the first time in his career. His time still equaled the fourth-fastest time run in the world this spring.

“Some of the coaches told me I should have broken 10 (seconds), but I just wanted to be smart about the situation and be ready for (the final) Friday,” Holliday said. “I’m not mad I didn’t go under 10 at all. Coach (Dennis Shaver) said to just get through the two rounds and get to the final.”

After the lengthy weather delay, he returned to easily qualify for the 100 final — but not without some anxious moments. Holliday blasted out of the starting blocks just before the starter’s gun went off, but Florida’s Jeremy Hall, who was in the lane next to Holliday, was disqualified.