BATON ROUGE -- Prep standout Rachel Laurent signed with the Lady Tigers as the No. 1 pole vault recruit in the nation for the Class of 2008, and she backed up those lofty credentials with a national leading mark Saturday at the LHSAA State Indoor Championships.
Laurent, a product of Vanderbilt Catholic High School in Houma, La., successfully defended her Division I state title with a record-setting and national leading clearance of 13 feet, 9 ¼ inches.
With her performance, Laurent not only becomes the No. 1 high school performer in the United States for the 2008 indoor season, but she also becomes the nation’s fourth-ranked performer all-time at the high school level. Her mark is also a facility record for the Carl Maddox Fieldhouse.
What’s even more impressive is that Laurent’s performance would automatically qualify her for a spot in the NCAA Indoor Championships and rank No. 3 in the NCAA this season.
Laurent is not only the nation’s top-ranked pole vault recruit but arguably the No. 1 field event prospect for the Class of 2008. Her outdoor seasonal best clearance of 13-5 ¼ would have earned NCAA All-America honors a year ago as it would have finished fifth at the 2007 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Sacramento, Calif.
The reigning pole vault champion at the Nike Indoor Nationals, Laurent was named to the 2007 Girls All-USA Track and Field Team by USA Today for her performance as a high school junior.
She is a five-time Louisiana state pole vault champion and the two-time defending Louisiana Gatorade Female Track and Field Athlete of the Year. Laurent was also named a Track and Field News All-American and an American Track and Field Athlete All-American in 2006 and 2007.
Laurent was not the only LSU signee to shine at the LHSAA State Indoor Championships this past weekend as star hurdler Barrett Nugent won the Division II state title in the 55-meter hurdles with a record-setting performance of his own.
Nugent won the event title with a meet record and the fourth-fastest time in the United States by a high school boy this indoor season at 7.32 seconds.
The senior at North Vermillion High School in Maurice is one of the premier hurdle prospects in all of high school track and field as he was a three-time state champion in the 100 meters (10.46), 110 hurdles (13.72) and 300 hurdles (37.40) at the 2007 LHSAA State Outdoor Championships a year ago. He was named the Class 3A Most Outstanding Performer for his performance.
His seasonal best time of 13.70 in the 110 hurdles ranked No. 7 in the nation in 2007 and was the second-fastest time recorded by a member of the Class of 2008. It was also the 22nd-ranked performance in the world by an athlete under the age of 20 for the 2007 outdoor season.
- http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1335547791/bctid1408010735 - Video of Rachael Jumping 13-7 at the LSU HS Qualifier