2002-2004 UL Trackster Lawrence Willis

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LOUISIANA La. - University of Louisiana track and field triple jump standout Lawrence Willis received Sun Belt Performer of the Week honors for the second consecutive week after adding another milestone to his impressive resume with an NCAA automatic qualifying mark at the LSU Indoor Invitational.

The Iota, La., native finished first among current collegians and second overall in the triple jump competition with a personal best indoor distance of 53-11.00. His performance at the LSU Indoor followed another collegiate triple jump title at the Houston Invitational on Jan. 17.

In 2003 Willis earned All-American honors after finishing fourth at the NCAA Championships in the triple jump. He recorded the third longest mark in Ragin’ Cajuns history with a distance of 53-11.25 at last year’s LSU Twilight Invitational.

Willis was also named 2003 All-Louisiana Field Athlete of the Year after winning the 2002 and 2003 Indoor and Outdoor Triple Jump Championships in the Sun Belt Conference.

The 2004 Indoor season continues for the Ragin’ Cajuns this Friday in the LSU Bayou Bengal Invitational at the Carl Maddox Fieldhouse in Baton Rouge.

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Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns Track & Field 2004 Indoor Results

Women’s Results:

1/17- Houston Invitational, Houston, Texas- 60: Levi 8.62 prelims. 200: 13th Glover 26.56. 400: 6th Young 1:00.02, 19th Wilson 1:03.28. 800: 11th Legere 2:29.46, 13th Credeur 2:30.42. 5,000: 1st Gillis 18:32.61, 4th Block 21:17.69. 60H: Stonum 9.85 prelims, Brandon 10.87 prelims, Octave 12.69 prelims. 4x400 Relay: 10th 4:05.86. Distance Medley: 6th 13:31.42. Pole Vault: T9th Bonvillain 10-06.00., T9th Caffey 10-06.00. Long Jump: 8th Johnson 17-09.75.

1/24- LSU Indoor Invitational, Baton Rouge, La.- 60: Levi 8.39 prelims. 200: 17th Glover 26.57, 34th Stonum 27.64, 40th Brandon 29.50. 400: 12th Glover 1:01.40, 24th Wilson 1:02.80. 800: 1st Young 2:22.66, 4th Credeur 2:27.46, 6th L. Zaunbrecher 2:28.34. Mile: 10th A. Zaunbrecher 5:33.62, 21st Legere 5:50.53, 23rd Block 5:53.07. 3,000: 5th Gillis 10:26.36. 5,000: 13th Clement 21:09.56. 60H: 10th Octave 9.16, 9.13 prelims, Stonum 9.47 prelims, Brandon 10.88 prelims. Distance Medley: 6th 12:53.34. 4x400 Relay: 7th 4:03.50. Long Jump: 5th Johnson 17-10.75. Triple Jump: 7th Johnson 37-02.50. Pole Vault: 5th Bonvillain 10-11.75, 9th Caffey 10-00. Shot Put: 23rd Chapman 35-11.25.

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Men’s Results:

1/17- Houston Invitational, Houston, Texas- 60: Slaughter 7.02 prelims, Murchison 7.08 prelims, Judice 7.26 prelims, Roqumore 7.62 prelims. 200: 7th Slaughter 22.35, 8th Shanklin 22.55. 800: 16th Bernard 2:04.02. Mile: 12th Campbell 4:37.54, 15th Ryan Dupree 4:44.31. 5,000: 2nd Rugu 15:36.00, 3rd Whitfield 16:06.09, 6th Lemaire 16:57.38. 60H: 15th Leben 13.54, 8.19 prelim, Roqumore 9.16 prelim. High Jump: 11th J. Hebert 6-03.25. Pole Vault: Lowry NH. Long Jump: 5th Willis 22-10.50, 17th Minton 20-03.50. Triple Jump: 2nd Willis (NCAA Provisional Mark) 52-06.00.

1/24- LSU Indoor Invitational, Baton Rouge, La.- 60: T3rd Murchison 6.89, 7.01 prelims, 6th Slaughter 6.94, 7.01 prelims, Bell 7.15 prelims, Judice 7.21 prelims, Smothers 7.28 prelims, Roquemore 7.43 prelims. 200: T4th Slaughter 22.56, 28th Bell 23.63. 400: Shanklin FS, Darby 55.42. 800: 11th Martin 2:04.87, 14th Campbell 2:06.99. Mile: 9th Campbell 4:35.09, 10th Whitfield 4:35.52, 15th Lemaire 4:47.07, 18th Schexnayder 4:51.13, 20th J. Gillis 4:53.88. 3,000: 11th Whitfield 8:52.87, 12th Rugu 8:53.46. 5,000: 7th DJ Hebert 16:59.71. 60H: 4th Leben 8.13, 8.15 prelims, Roquemore 8.72 prelims, Distance Medley: 6th 10:39.18. 4x400 Relay: 4th 3:22.00. Long Jump: 5th Flugence 21-09.50, 11th Minton 20-09.75. Triple Jump: 2nd Willis (NCAA Automatic Mark) 53-11.00, Minton ND. Pole Vault: 9th Lowry 14-05.25.

LOUISIANA SI

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Willis jumps ahead of pack. Cajuns’ standout has best triple jump in the country.

LOUISIANA La. — Lawrence Willis has a definite thirst for knowledge.

It’s no accident that he also has the best indoor triple jump in the nation among major colleges in the early stages of the 2004 track and field season.

The University of Louisiana senior from Iota always takes the time to ask for tips from fellow competitors, small things he can do that will add up to big results.

“I get a little bit of information at every meet,” said Willis, who reached an NCAA automatic qualifying mark with a 53-11 effort last Saturday at the LSU Indoor Invitational.

“There are little things, like my running off the board and holding my phases a lot longer. And on my landing, I’m constantly being told I need to get better there.

“I also share the information I get with my teammates, because it helped me out.”

Willis will not jump when the Ragin’ Cajun men and women compete in LSU’s Bayou Bengal Invitational today at the Cal Maddox Fieldhouse, taking a turn instead at the 200, but there’s no question where his focus is this year.

He placed fourth at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in 2003 with a 53-10 1/4 effort, earning All-America status in an event won by Southern Cal’s Julien Kapek at 56-2.

“The way I was performing in the triple jump, I knew that was the event I wanted to stay with and try and take it to the next level,” said Willis, who competed in the long jump, triple jump, high jump and 400 meters in addition to playing basketball at IHS.”

“We knew coming out of high school that Lawrence was talented,” Louisiana coach Lance Veazey said. “But he was a 46, 47-foot triple jumper. The last year or two, it’s like a light went off and he said, ‘So, this is how you triple jump.’

The rest of the story

Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com

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Willis fourth in Triple Jump At Ncaa Indoor Track Championships

LOUISIANA La.- Ragin’ Cajun senior track standout Lawrence Willis capped an impressive indoor season with a fourth place finish in the triple jump finals at the NCAA Championships held at the Randal Tyson Indoor Track in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Willis set a new career best in the event with a distance of 54-04.00 in his first of six attempts. The jump ranks as the fourth longest in Cajun history and tops his previous best mark of 54-02.00.

The Iota, La., native qualified for the Championships with three automatic marks in the triple jump, most recently a mark of 53-05.75 to win his third consecutive Sun Belt triple jump title two weeks ago.

The Cajun senior was also named the Sun Belt Championship men’s most outstanding field performer and top points earner after winning both the triple jump and long jump titles.

LOUISIANA SI

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Willis wins triple jump event across the Basin

Louisiana’s Lawrence Willis began his outdoor track and field campaign in style Saturday, winning the Tiger Relays triple jump hosted by LSU at Bernie Moore Stadium.

Willis, an All-American who finished fourth at the recent NCAA Indoor Championships, posted a winning 53-9.75 effort.

Also Saturday, Natalie Gillis was third in the women’s 1,500 in 4:36.65.

Friday at LSU, UL’s Andree Bonvillain and Amanda Caffey were third and fourth in the women’s pole vault, both with 10-4 heights.

Another contingent of Cajuns competed at Lamar University’s Ty Terrell Relays in Beaumont, and the highlight there was a dominating finish in the men’s 3,000 meters by Walter Whitfield (8:53.78), Ryan Dupree (8:59.40), Justin Lemaire (9:05.69) and Chad Campbell (9:16.80).

Also at Lamar, Jarvis Murchison (21.23) and Kade Slaughter (21.29) were 2-3 in the 200, Nick Judice was the 100 runner-up (10.62) and the 4x100 relay was second in 41.69.

Stacey Young (2:19.93) and Jennifer Gautreaux (2:20.90) were 2-3 in the 800, Gautreaux was third in the 3000, Jennifer Block was third in the 1,500, Fawn Rogers and Rose Wilson were 2-3 in the 400, and Ashley Brandon was second in the 100 hurdles (14.74).

The source of the story

Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com

March 31st, 2004, 05:35 am #15

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Sun Belt honors Willis of Louisiana

LOUISIANA La. — UL senior Lawrence Willis has been named the Men’s Field Performer of the Week in the Sun Belt Conference.

The Iota product won the men’s triple jump title with a mark of 53-9.75 at last weekend’s LSU Tiger Relays. It was the first outdoor action for Willis since earning All-American triple jump honors at the NCAA Indoor Championships with a fourth-place effort.

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April 5th, 2004, 02:45 am #16

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Willis, Gillis show way in Texas

AUSTIN, Texas — Senior Lawrence Willis highlighted the action for Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns at the 77th annual Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays with a personal best distance of 55-1 to place second overall in the triple jump competition.

The mark ranks as the second longest triple jump recorded in school history trailing only Ndabe Mdhlongwa’s distance of 55-9.25 set in 1996.

Sophomore Justin Lemaire recorded the school’s fourth fastest time in the 10,000-meter run with a mark of 32:54.73 to finish 11th overall.

On the women’s side, distance standout Natalie Gillis continued her assault on the school’s record books by setting a new 5,000-meter record of 17:44.16 to place 12th overall in the race.

Gillis has now set records in the 1,500, 3,000, and 5,000-meter runs over the past three weeks.

The women’s 4x800 relay team of Laura Credeur, Analise Zaunbrecher, Laura Zaunbrecher, and Stacey Young posted a new school record of 9:12.50 to finish 12th overall.

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May 7th, 2004, 05:55 am #17

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Willis aiming higher, farther

Ragin' Cajun triple jumper is thinking past Sun Belt league meet.

LOUISIANA La. — Lawrence Willis probably doesn’t mean to sound cocky, but he can’t help it.

The guy is very possibly the nation’s best triple jumper, and he won’t have any competition in his specialty this weekend at the Sun Belt Conference’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

The University of Louisiana senior and Iota native goes into the league meet with the country’s second-best jump, a 55-1 mark he posted at the Texas Relays on March 31, and nobody in the conference is within six feet of his top mark.

“To me, it’s just a regular meet,” Willis said Thursday. “There aren’t any guys competing at my level in the triple jump, so I’m aiming to get the meet and conference records and get points for the team.”

Willis will be the Cajun to watch at the conference championships, which get underway today at North Texas’ Fouts Field in Denton. The limited first day of competition includes the opening day of the decathlon and heptathlon, the men’s and women’s discus and the men’s and women’s 10,000-meter runs.

Action in most other events begins Saturday, and the majority of the finals are Sunday. Middle Tennessee is the prohibitive pick to win the men’s title after Western Kentucky upset the Blue Raiders last year, and MTSU and host North Texas figure to battle for the women’s team crown after UNT claimed last year’s honors.

The rest of the story

Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@lafayette.gannett.com

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May 7th, 2004, 06:53 am #18

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Ragin Cajuns of Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Fan for Sure

Met with the young man by chance as I was watching the heavy equipment do the work at the track complex. He walked up to me and started a conversation. He was very outgoing and a credit to his parents, town, and the university. He has high hopes and said to get to the olympics would be fantastic. Well yea I guess it would be. Just wanted to put a personal note to the above story.

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May 10th, 2004, 04:39 am #19

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Willis floats through the SunBelt competition

Willis gets easy triple jump win

DENTON, Texas — To nobody’s surprise, Lawrence Willis completed his sweep of the Sun Belt Conference’s horizontal jumping events for 2004 here Sunday on the final day of the league’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

Willis soared to an easy win in the triple jump with a 53-6 1/2 effort, winning the event by almost four feet, and added that win to the long jump title he won with a career and league-best 25-1 3/4 Saturday.

The senior from Iota had also taken the long and triple jump titles in the league’s Indoor Championships in February.

Willis’ win, Walter Whitfield’s completion of one of the meet’s toughest doubles, and an all-around effort from senior Lawrence Leben helped boost the Ragin' Cajun men to a fifth-place team finish with 101 points.

Western Kentucky won its second straight men’s title with 147, with Arkansas State second at 133 1/2, pre-meet favorite Middle Tennessee at 123 and host North Texas at 108 in the nine-team field.

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May 31st, 2004, 01:14 pm #20

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Lawrence Willis Earns Return Trip To NCAA Outdoors

BATON ROUGE - Louisiana senior Lawrence Willis earned a berth in the NCAA Outdoor Championships for the second straight season with his fifth place finish in the men's triple jump here Saturday evening at the NCAA Mideast Regional Track and Field Championships at LSU's Bernie Moore Track Stadium.

Willis, a fourth place finisher at the NCAA National Championships last season and three-time Sun Belt triple jump champion, qualified for this year's meet in Austin, Texas, with a mark of 53-01.75.

Willis' jump earned the Cajuns men's team four points as he became the only UL Lafayette athlete to earn points at the meet. His finish was Louisiana-Lafayette's lone Top 10 finish.

The Iota native is likely to be the Cajuns lone representative at the national meet unless one of his teammates earns an at large berth.

Fellow senior Lawrence Leben, an 11th place finisher in Friday's 110-meter hurdles, rounded out the list of finalists in the triple jump with a 19th place finish at 47-05.00.

Walter Whitfield, competing in the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase, enjoyed a stellar preliminary round as he finished third in his section finishing in 9:23.90.

Whitfield's mark wasn’t high enough to qualify, though, as he wound up 15th.

UL Lafayette's lone women's candidate was Amanda Caffey in the javelin throw.

Caffey's mark of 133-10 was second-best in her flight trailing only Bowling Green's Andi Bunko at 137-09. However, Caffey missed out on qualifying for nationals as her mark was the 11th best.

The NCAA National Championships will be held June 9-12 in Austin, Texas, at Mike A. Meyers Stadium.

LOUISIANA SI

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[NewsCopy]

LOUISIANA La. — UL senior Lawrence Willis has been named the Men’s Field Performer of the Week in the Sun Belt Conference.

The Iota product won the men’s triple jump title with a mark of 53-9.75 at last weekend’s LSU Tiger Relays. It was the first outdoor action for Willis since earning All-American triple jump honors at the NCAA Indoor Championships with a fourth-place effort.

[NewsCopy]

AUSTIN, Texas — Senior Lawrence Willis highlighted the action for Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns at the 77th annual Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays with a personal best distance of 55-1 to place second overall in the triple jump competition.

The mark ranks as the second longest triple jump recorded in school history trailing only Ndabe Mdhlongwa’s distance of 55-9.25 set in 1996.

Sophomore Justin Lemaire recorded the school’s fourth fastest time in the 10,000-meter run with a mark of 32:54.73 to finish 11th overall.

On the women’s side, distance standout Natalie Gillis continued her assault on the school’s record books by setting a new 5,000-meter record of 17:44.16 to place 12th overall in the race.

Gillis has now set records in the 1,500, 3,000, and 5,000-meter runs over the past three weeks.

The women’s 4x800 relay team of Laura Credeur, Analise Zaunbrecher, Laura Zaunbrecher, and Stacey Young posted a new school record of 9:12.50 to finish 12th overall.

The rest of the story

[NewsCopy]

Ragin' Cajun triple jumper is thinking past Sun Belt league meet.

LOUISIANA La. — Lawrence Willis probably doesn’t mean to sound cocky, but he can’t help it.

The guy is very possibly the nation’s best triple jumper, and he won’t have any competition in his specialty this weekend at the Sun Belt Conference’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

The University of Louisiana senior and Iota native goes into the league meet with the country’s second-best jump, a 55-1 mark he posted at the Texas Relays on March 31, and nobody in the conference is within six feet of his top mark.

“To me, it’s just a regular meet,” Willis said Thursday. “There aren’t any guys competing at my level in the triple jump, so I’m aiming to get the meet and conference records and get points for the team.”

Willis will be the Cajun to watch at the conference championships, which get underway today at North Texas’ Fouts Field in Denton. The limited first day of competition includes the opening day of the decathlon and heptathlon, the men’s and women’s discus and the men’s and women’s 10,000-meter runs.

Action in most other events begins Saturday, and the majority of the finals are Sunday. Middle Tennessee is the prohibitive pick to win the men’s title after Western Kentucky upset the Blue Raiders last year, and MTSU and host North Texas figure to battle for the women’s team crown after UNT claimed last year’s honors.

The rest of the story

Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@lafayette.gannett.com

[Cajun Express]

Met with the young man by chance as I was watching the heavy equipment do the work at the track complex. He walked up to me and started a conversation. He was very outgoing and a credit to his parents, town, and the university. He has high hopes and said to get to the olympics would be fantastic. Well yea I guess it would be. Just wanted to put a personal note to the above story.

[NewsCopy]

Willis gets easy triple jump win

DENTON, Texas — To nobody’s surprise, Lawrence Willis completed his sweep of the Sun Belt Conference’s horizontal jumping events for 2004 here Sunday on the final day of the league’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

Willis soared to an easy win in the triple jump with a 53-6 1/2 effort, winning the event by almost four feet, and added that win to the long jump title he won with a career and league-best 25-1 3/4 Saturday.

The senior from Iota had also taken the long and triple jump titles in the league’s Indoor Championships in February.

Willis’ win, Walter Whitfield’s completion of one of the meet’s toughest doubles, and an all-around effort from senior Lawrence Leben helped boost the Ragin' Cajun men to a fifth-place team finish with 101 points.

Western Kentucky won its second straight men’s title with 147, with Arkansas State second at 133 1/2, pre-meet favorite Middle Tennessee at 123 and host North Texas at 108 in the nine-team field.

The rest of the story

[NewsCopy]

BATON ROUGE - Louisiana senior Lawrence Willis earned a berth in the NCAA Outdoor Championships for the second straight season with his fifth place finish in the men's triple jump here Saturday evening at the NCAA Mideast Regional Track and Field Championships at LSU's Bernie Moore Track Stadium.

Willis, a fourth place finisher at the NCAA National Championships last season and three-time Sun Belt triple jump champion, qualified for this year's meet in Austin, Texas, with a mark of 53-01.75.

Willis' jump earned the Cajuns men's team four points as he became the only UL Lafayette athlete to earn points at the meet. His finish was Louisiana-Lafayette's lone Top 10 finish.

The Iota native is likely to be the Cajuns lone representative at the national meet unless one of his teammates earns an at large berth.

Fellow senior Lawrence Leben, an 11th place finisher in Friday's 110-meter hurdles, rounded out the list of finalists in the triple jump with a 19th place finish at 47-05.00.

Walter Whitfield, competing in the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase, enjoyed a stellar preliminary round as he finished third in his section finishing in 9:23.90.

Whitfield's mark wasn’t high enough to qualify, though, as he wound up 15th.

UL Lafayette's lone women's candidate was Amanda Caffey in the javelin throw.

Caffey's mark of 133-10 was second-best in her flight trailing only Bowling Green's Andi Bunko at 137-09. However, Caffey missed out on qualifying for nationals as her mark was the 11th best.

The NCAA National Championships will be held June 9-12 in Austin, Texas, at Mike A. Meyers Stadium.

LOUISIANA SI