FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Junior standout Walter Henningset the tone for the LSU track and field teams on the final day of competition at the 2010 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships with a national championship in the men's 35-pound weight throw as the Lady Tigers earned a third-place finish and the Tigers earned a fourth-place finish in the final team standings Saturday.
The Lady Tigers scored 35 points in two days of competition to finish in third place in the final standings, trailing only the 61 points scored by the NCAA Indoor champion Oregon Ducks and the 36 points scored by the runner-up Tennessee Lady Volunteers. Florida (33) and Texas A&M (31) rounded out the top five. The Tigers were also impressive in racking up 42 points for the meet to finish in fourth place. The Florida Gators were crowned this year's NCAA Indoor champions on the men's side with 57 points overall, while both Oregon and Texas A&M tied for second place with 44 points apiece. LSU's squads combined for 15 All-America performances in two days at the Randal Tyson Track Center, including 13 individual All-Americans and a pair of All-American relay teams. LSU also earned distinction as one of only three teams at this year's NCAA Indoor Championships to receive championship trophies honoring the top four squads on both sides along with Florida and Oregon. "That was just an incredible meet for both of our teams," said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. "I have no doubt in my mind that we had about as good a meet as we could have on both sides. I'm not only proud of the way we performed, but with the way we competed in the track meet from the very first event Friday. I could not have asked for more from our kids with the way they represented LSU. "You could see the pride in our athletes in showing everyone what LSU track and field is all about. It's an incredible feeling to come to this track meet and for both teams to come away with a trophy. We're one of only three teams that can say that. That says a lot about the character of our athletes." History seems to be made each time that Henning steps into the throwing circle for the Tigers, and it was no different Sunday as he put an exclamation point onto the end of a brilliant 2010 indoor season as he was crowned the NCAA champion in the 35-pound weight throw. It marked Henning's fourth career NCAA All-American honor and his third as a Tiger following a fourth-place finish in the weight throw and a second-place finish in the hammer throw nationally in 2009. Henning certainly lived up to his reputation as the favorite to win this year's NCAA title as he became the first LSU Tiger to win the national crown in either the weight throw indoors or hammer throw outdoors in Saturday's competition at Walker Pavilion on the Arkansas campus. Henning recorded a winning mark of 77 feet, 3 ¾ inches on his third attempt to finish ahead of Memphis' Steffen Nerdel (76-2 ¼) for the title. It took Henning three throws to find his rhythm after opening with a foul on his first attempt and a modest throw of 71-9 on his second attempt before unleashing a winning mark of 77-3 ¾ on his third attempt that would stand for the rest of the competition through the final three rounds of throws. Henning also posted impressive marks of 77-2 ¾ on his fifth throw and 75-8 on his sixth throw during the finals, but 77-3 ¾ is all he would need to stake his claim as this year's NCAA champion. "This is absolutely awesome. I'm just so happy right now getting this win," Henning said. "That's exactly what it means, 10 points. That was the goal coming in and that was all I was thinking about throughout the entire competition. The team is always more important than the individual. The best guys always show up at this meet, and they showed up today. It was a fight to the very end. "I really needed to get one of those first throws out there because Steffen (Nerdel) is a great competitor as he's shown that at these meets in the past. I knew he was going to come here and compete. I was hoping for a little more, but the goal was to throw one centimeter more (than Nerdel) and I got a few more." Henning dominated the 35-pound weight throw from start to finish as he wrapped up the indoor campaign a perfect six-for-six in weight throw competitions in 2010. In fact, he entered the NCAA Indoor Championships with the No. 1 performance in the country at 78-1 he recorded in winning his second-straight SEC title at the Walker Pavilion just two weeks ago. "Naturally, I'm going to have butterflies for any big meet whether it's the SECs or the NCAAs," Henning said. "I've been losing sleep over this one for the last week. I've been taking two hours to go to bed and waking up every hour. Last night, I think I may have got four hours of sleep. But it's all worth it after this win today. I'm very excited and look forward to the outdoor season." Fellow junior Zedric Thomas also provided the Tigers with some much needed firepower on the final day of the meet as he picked up his second All-America honor of the weekend, this time in the triple jump. Thomas, who scored five points with a fourth-place finish in the long jump on Friday, nearly matched the 10 points scored by Henning with a national championship of his own as he finished as this year's NCAA Indoor runner-up in the men's triple jump. Thomas added eight more points toward LSU's team total after posting a new overall personal best of 53-5 ¾ on his third jump of the competition. With his performance, Thomas earned the first and second All-America honors of his LSU career, racking up a total of 13 points on the weekend to lead the Tigers in scoring. Sophomore Barrett Nugent also scored five big points for the Tigers with a fourth-place finish in the final of the men's 60-meter hurdles as he picked up his first career All-America honor in the hurdles. Nugent qualified for the final by shattering his own LSU school record with the second-fastest time of the preliminary round on Friday at 7.60. He returned to the track Saturday and crossed the finish line in 7.65 to place fourth and become the first LSU Tiger to earn All-America honors in the event since Alleyne Lett was the national runner-up during the 2007 season. The LSU men also got eight points in the 800-meter final on the strength of a fourth-place finish by junior Richard Jones (1:48.92) and a sixth-place finish by senior Jamaal James (1:49.21). The Tigers wrapped up the meet by scoring six points with a third-place finish in the 4x400-meter relay as the team of senior Armanti Hayes, sophomore Robert Simmons, Jones and freshman Caleb Williams clocked a seasonal-best time of 3 minutes, 5.65 seconds for a third-place finish. LSU scored 42 points for the men's team, including a whopping 37 points during Saturday's action. "We were outstanding in every event area this weekend. I think we scored at least what we were supposed to score across the board. We really scored even more points than what we probably should have scored," Shaver said. "That just shows how competitive we really were and how prepared we were to compete." As she has done throughout her collegiate career, seniorLaTavia Thomas set the pace for the Lady Tigers with a pair of All-America honors on the meet's final day. Thomas first stepped onto the track for the 800-meter final and received her fifth career All-America pick in the event with a third-place finish, crossing the finish line with a time of 2:03.90. She was finished only one one-hundredth of a second out of second place as BYU's Lacey Cramer finished in 2:03.89. Thomas then wrapped up the meet by anchoring the Lady Tigers to a national runner-up finish in the relay as she teamed with sophomore Cassandra Tate, senior Kayann Thompson and junior Brittany Hall to post a seasonal-best time of 3:33.79. Her 51.92-second split on the anchor leg led the way for the LSU women as they finished behind only the relay team from Oregon (3:32.97) in the final event of the track meet. It proved to be a tight race to the finish as the Lady Tigers would have placed fifth in the event and in a tie for fifth in the final team standings if they would have run just three tenths of a second slower in the relay. The Lady Tigers also picked up six points from sophomoreRachel Laurent, who received her second All-America selection as a Lady Tiger with an impressive third-place finish in the women's pole vault. Laurent, who became the first Lady Tiger in program history to be named an All-American in the event a year ago with a fifth-place finish at the NCAA Indoor meet, cleared the bar at 14-3 ¼ en route to finishing third overall in the competition. She was eliminated from the event with the bar resting at 14-5 ¼. The Lady Tigers were the only team to qualify three sprinters into the 60-meter final and picked up a total of nine points in the finals as junior Kenyanna Wilson placed fifth, senior Samantha Henry took sixth and freshman Takeia Pinckney finished seventh in the race. Wilson matched her personal best with a clocking of 7.24, while Henry followed with a time of 7.31 and Pinckney finished with a time of 7.32. Like Thomas, Henry won a pair of All-America honors on the weekend after also finishing seventh in the 200-meter final held Friday night. Henry has now earned 12 All-America honors during her LSU career. "Our kids have shown a lot of determination this postseason. I thought we did a great job to finish third in both genders at the conference meet, but they really stepped it up this weekend and earned their place. We couldn't have asked for more from our kids in the way they competed this weekend. We really got a lot of things done at this meet that will help us as we head outdoors." With the indoor season now behind them, the Tigers and Lady Tigers will turn their attention outdoors as they kick off the 2010 outdoor season next weekend with a trip to Lafayette, La., on March 20 to compete in the Louisiana Classics being held at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Men - Final Team Standings (Top 10) Women - Final Team Standings (Top 10) 
1) Florida 57
2) Texas A&M 44
2) Oregon 44
4) LSU 42
5) Arkansas 38
6) Indiana 25
7) Arizona State 21
8) New Mexico 18
8) Minnesota 18
8) Northern Arizona 18
8) South Carolina 18
1) Oregon 61
2) Tennessee 36
3) LSU 35
4) Florida 33
5) Texas A&M 31
6) Auburn 28
7) Clemson 20
7) Florida State 20
7) UTEP 20
10) West Virginia 18
10) Virginia Tech 18
10) Iowa State 18