ATHENS, Ga. - In perhaps the most competitive conference meet he has seen in his three seasons with the Tigers, senior Walter Henning emerged victorious once again as the Southeastern Conference hammer throw champion while setting a 2011 seasonal best on Thursday morning at Georgia's Spec Towns Track.
Despite entering this year's SEC Outdoor Track & Field Championships with a modest seasonal best of 216 feet, 9 inches, the defending NCAA champion took the lead on his third throw of Thursday's opening event and never looked back en route to claiming his third-straight SEC hammer throw crown.
Henning uncorked a leading mark of 224-6 on his third throw of the competition, before improving with a seasonal-best mark of 225-4 on his sixth and final attempt to take the title.
"It's an awesome feeling," Henning said. "I got a little worried there for a bit - I've never lost a conference title so I guess I got to complete the sweep today. Justin is a great competitor, probably my best competition. It feels really great to win here today."
This marks the third-straight season in which Henning has captured the SEC championship in the hammer throw as he successfully defended the crown he won as a sophomore in 2009 and as a junior in 2010. This also marks the third-straight season in which he has completed the season sweep of SEC titles after taking home SEC Indoor championships in the 35-pound weight throw in each of the last three years.
In fact, Henning has never tasted defeat at the conference level in four seasons at the collegiate level as he also swept Atlantic Coast Conference titles in the weight throw and hammer throw in 2008 during his true freshman season at the University of North Carolina to finish a perfect 8-for-8 in conference action.
With his victory, Henning moved into the No. 4 position in the NCAA rankings this season as he hopes to defend the national championship he won a season ago in Eugene, Ore.
Henning actually teamed with Michael Lauro and Ross Roubion to score 18 points in the opening event at this year's SEC Outdoor Championships as the No. 3-ranked Tigers have taken the lead after one event.
Lauro nearly set a personal best in the competition as he posted a top mark of 217-11 on his fifth throw of the series to take fourth place overall, after qualifying for the final with a mark of 212-5 in the preliminary round. Roubion followed in sixth place after throwing 187-8 on his sixth and final throw of the day.
"We wanted more. We want to go 1-2-3 in every meet," said Henning. "But it is big for our team to score 18 points right off the bat. These guys threw well today. Jeremy (Postin) and Justin (Welch) threw well today. It was a great competition with guys fighting for every point they could get. I haven't had too good of a season outdoors to this point, but I kind of resurrected it a little bit today."
Henning, who took home an easy victory at the SEC Championships a year ago by more than 13 feet with a winning throw of 237-3, was forced to sweat out all six rounds of Thursday's competition before finishing ahead of Georgia freshman Justin Welch my little more than one foot in the final event standing.
With LSU's national champion taking a top mark of 224-6 into the sixth and final round of throws, Welch actually climbed to within four inches of Henning's lead with a series best of 224-2 on his last attempt.
"Justin had me worried because I've never lost a conference meet," Henning said. "He's done well during his freshman season and has many great years ahead of him. You can tell he's a tremendous competitor at this meet who wants to throw far. Fortunately, I was able to throw a little bit farther today. The only goal I set that I need to accomplish in the championship meets is scoring 10 points for our team."
Henning is only the third athlete in the history of the SEC Championships to win three league titles for the hammer throw, joining Georgia's Andras Haklits (2000-02) and Auburn's Cory Martin (2005, 2007-08).
The action continues for LSU at the 2011 SEC Outdoor Track & Field Championships on Friday morning as the women will take their turn in the hammer throw at 9 a.m. CDT. The meet's first preliminary events on the track will follow at 4:30 p.m. Live results of this year's SEC Outdoor Championships can be found online at the official website of Flash Results at www.flashresults.com.
Fans are also reminded that live updates on the Tigers and Lady Tigers competing in this year's event can be received by becoming a fan of LSU Track & Field on Facebook at www.facebook.com/lsutrackfield as well as by following @LSUTrackField on Twitter at www.twitter.com/lsutrackfield.