THE SKY’S THE LIMIT

For someone so competitive, it might be surprising to find out what convinced Nicholls State University javelin thrower Leslie Bourgeois to join the Central Lafourche track and field team nearly three years ago.

It wasn’t the allure of the sport, or the intense concentration it involves. It wasn’t the minute details of perfecting a particular craft, or even the competitive nature of an individual event such as throwing the javelin.

It was a pair of warm ups.

A jacket and a pair of pants led to a javelin.

“My senior year in high school,” recalls Bourgeois, “I actually joined the track team because of a warm up. I was in world history class, and said I wanted a nice warm up. My teacher, Mr. Miller, told me to come out for track. It was just a coincidence that (today) I would be on a full scholarship to throw javelin.”

Coincidence or not, many would say its Bourgeois’ competitive nature that has helped her to excel at throwing the javelin.

The quiet, but competitive sophomore’s talent was on display early and often in her freshman year.

“She’s real quiet and shy,” said Scott Williamson, track coach at Nicholls. “But she’s one of the fiercest competitors I’ve ever met. She hates to lose. We’ll play a pickup basketball game, and she’ll get very physical and competitive.”

In her first collegiate meet, Bourgeois set a Nicholls all-time mark with a throw of 135.01 feet at the USA Premier Invitational, good for a second-place finish.

Overall, Bourgeois had two first-place finishes and two second-place finishes her freshman season.

So far this season, Bourgeois has taken part in four meets. She has first-place finishes at the Louisiana-Lafayette Open (UL-Lafayette) and the Seminole Twilight (Florida State), and a second-place finish at the LSU Relays.

Williamson says Bourgeois’ early success is a promising sign of things to come. “Doing as well as she has, so early in her career, it’s very beneficial,” the coach said. “She’s getting a lot of experience at a lot of big-time meets.”

And that experience could pay big dividends. Bourgeois is expecting to return to the USA Track and Field Championships, where she finished 12th last year. Next year, she is hoping to take part in the 2008 Olympic trials.

Last year’s experience at the USA Championships is one Bourgeois says she won’t forget. “They had a lot of good throwers there,” she said. “The American record-holder broke her own record. Whenever I wasn’t throwing I was taking pictures of Marion Jones. That was the experience of a lifetime.”

As for the Olympic trials?

“I knows it’s a really big dream,” Bourgeois said of the endeavor. “I have a lot of time to prepare, so hopefully I’ll keep improving, and maybe I’ll have a chance.”

Bourgeois, a multi-sport athlete in high school, has taken skills from each sport she’s played and put them together to form a proverbial gumbo of skills. “Quickness … is from basketball,” she said. “Arm speed and your rotation of the hips comes from volleyball and softball.”

Williamson echoed those sentiments, saying that Bourgeois’ athleticism is a big reason for her success. “She’s an all-around talented athlete,” he said. “It definitely helps out in her work ethic and overall strength and conditioning.”

Bourgeois also played softball at Nicholls as a freshman. However, when choosing which sport to continue, javelin won out. “I felt like I could improve a lot more in javelin,” she explained. “I’ve only been doing this for three years. Softball I’ve been playing my whole life.”

The ability to control her destiny was also a draw toward sticking with javelin. “You’re in control of what you do and what you accomplish,” said Bourgeois. “That’s a big thing that I like about it. You control you. It’s all on your shoulders.”

So while a pair of warm ups were what got Bourgeois involved in javelin, it is all the other aspects of the sport that keeps her focused on it.

The concentration. The perfection of a craft.

And most of all, the competition that caters to Bourgeois having complete control over her successes.

Photo by DOUG KEESE • NSU * Nicholls State javelin thrower Leslie Bourgeois has been having rapid success for the Colonels. The sophomore from Central Lafourche set a school-record in her first career meet, and has recorded three first-place finishes so far this season.

Doug Keese