Bourgeois earns 13th place finish at NCAA’s

Nicholls State javelin hurler Leslie Bourgeois was hoping her best throw would be her last.

It wasn’t.

But it was still good enough for the Colonels’ highest-ever finish at the NCAA Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Ore. – a 13th place finish.

Bourgeois entered the event as the No. 33-ranked hurler in the country. But the former Central Lafourche High School standout proved that projection was a bit low, thanks to a 156-foot-3-inch throw.

The throw was not greater than the 160-plus-foot heave she had in her freshman season, but it enabled her to surpass last year’s 22nd-place finish.

Participating in the meet made Bourgeois the first Colonel to ever take part in the meet in consecutive seasons.

Her finish is now also the highest finish for a Colonel at the national meet.

She was one spot shy of being named an NCAA All-American, and missed that mark by just 18 inches.

Bourgeois said prior to the meet the end of her career had not yet sunk in.

But regardless of the outcome of the meet, she said she will always be at home in Thibodaux.

“This will always be home,” Bourgeois said earlier in the season. “My career, it’s gone fast, but I will always be a Colonel.”

Bourgeois has said she plans to serve as a graduate assistant for the track and field team following the season, so she will be able to give her championship experience to younger Colonel track athletes.

“Whatever it is she’s trying to do, she’ll be great at it. She won’t stop until she is,” said Colonels’ coach Scott Williamson.

LSU teams finish in Top 10 at National Meet

The LSU men and women’s track and field teams were represented well at the national meet. But the Tigers and Lady Tigers were not able to achieve the national championship success they have come to know, finishing sixth place in the meet with both teams.

More than 20 LSU athletes were able to earn All-American status, led by junior Walter Henning, who won the national championship in the hammer throw.

Other LSU All-Americans were senior Samantha Henry, freshman Kimberlyn Duncan, and sophomore Barrett Nugent, who set the school record in the 110M hurdles in a runner-up finish.

“It just blows my mind to do what I did today. I’m so happy right now,” Nugent said. “I didn’t want to do what I did last year at this meet. I made sure to focus more on the process of running the hurdles and what I had to do instead of running for a time or trying to break a record or anything like that. That is when you get yourself in trouble in this event. You have to focus on the race and nothing else.”

The Tigers took a bit of a step back from their third and fourth place finishes at the Indoor Championships earlier this season.

But despite the drop down to sixth place, LSU track and field coach Dennis Shaver said he was pleased with the way his team performed at the meet.

“The people on our team who have consistently performed all year long did very well this weekend,” Shaver said. “I’m very proud of the way they represented our program and represented LSU, particularly our seniors.”