Fox confident with SEC meet nearing

• By SHELDON MICKLES
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: May 11, 2008 - Page: 2C - UPDATED: 1:30 a.m.

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To say that LSU junior thrower Rabun Fox is looking forward to the next two meets, and possibly a third, would be the understatement of the year.

After three mostly unfulfilled years as a hammer thrower, including a redshirt season in 2007, Fox is armed with a personal record and some newfound confidence going into the Southeastern Conference meet this week and NCAA Mideast Regionals later this month.

And if all goes well at the regional meet, Fox will advance to the NCAA Championships for the first time in his career. Which would be quite an accomplishment considering the former shot putter and discus thrower hasn’t had much success in big meets.

“My first few years in the hammer, it’s been a here-and-there mentality,” Fox said. “I’ve had some rough meets. I’ve struggled at the bigger meets.”

There’s plenty of proof. As a freshman, he committed three fouls at the SEC Championships. A year later, after a solid second-place finish at the SEC meet, Fox fouled out at the NCAA Mideast Regionals.

But there’s been something about this season for Fox, a graduate of Vandebilt Catholic-Houma. He matched the personal best he set in 2006 in the season-opening meet, then stretched his PR from 198 feet, 11 inches to 210-11, 212-6 and 215-11 in successive competitions.

The 212-6 effort was a breakthrough considering it came at the prestigious Texas Relays. He also had a decent performance in the Penn Relays in late April.

As a result, Fox ranks third in the SEC, sixth in the Mideast Region and 15th in the nation going into the meat of the Tigers’ season.

He said he owes it all to what he did during fall training and especially the 12-foot PR he had in the LSU Relays in late March.

“It was good to get the ball rolling early and get the momentum going for the season,” he said. “That was very important. Since then, it’s been all about consistency and building for when it counts.”

It’s what Fox has been looking forward to since he and former throws coach John Woosley mapped out his career when he arrived at LSU in 2005. After winning three state titles as a prep star at Vandebilt Catholic, the decision was made to concentrate on the hammer.

“He convinced me that I should try to excel at one event,” said Fox, who is now coached by Derrick Yush. “You know the old saying, ‘jack of all trades, master of none?’ It just felt good to focus on the hammer.”

Woosley and Fox really felt good about their decision when Fox placed second at the SEC meet in 2006. But inconsistency cropped up again two weeks later at regionals when he failed to record a fair throw.