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, 06:35 am
#15
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.
April 5th, 2004, 02:45 am
#16
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.
The rest of the story
May 7th, 2004, 05:55 am
#17
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
May 7th, 2004, 06:53 am
#18
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.
May 10th, 2004, 04:39 am
#19
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.
The rest of the story
May 31st, 2004, 01:14 pm
#20
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
June 1st, 2004, 04:41 am
#21
Cajuns’ Willis not ruffled by NCAA regional
BATON ROUGE — For many of the athletes competing at this weekend’s NCAA Mideast Regional Track & Field Meet at LSU’s Bernie Moore Stadium, it was a last chance to earn a spot at the NCAA Championships in Austin.
But for UL Lafayette senior Lawrence Willis, it was a different kind of experience.
“It’s just another meet for me,” said Willis, whose 55-1 was second among the nation’s triple jumpers entering weekend action.
“I’m one of the top 5 guys in the nation, so it wasn’t that valuable for me.
It’s one of those meets that you train through.”
Still, the Mideast did feature some of the best jumpers in the event, and they showed why on Saturday.
The rest of the story
Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com
June 1st, 2004, 03:22 pm
#22
June 9th, 2004, 04:57 am
#23
Willis preparing for NCAA Outdoor championships
One year ago, Lawrence Willis was preparing for his first-ever appearance in a national collegiate track and field championship, and wasn’t really sure what to expect.
That’s what made his fourth-place finish in the 2003 NCAA outdoor triple jump such a pleasant surprise — to everyone except Willis.
“I tried to look at it like any other meet,” said the University of Louisiana standout, who earned the first of his two All-America honors with a 53-10 1/4 jump in Sacramento, Calif. “I tried not to get too stressed, not to worry about it, and just relax.”
Being able to handle the mental strain of national competition has been one of Willis‚ strong points over the past year, and a trait that should help him Friday and Saturday when he competes in his specialty in the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Austin.
Willis will take part in the qualifying round Friday evening, with the top 12 jumpers moving on to Saturday evening’s finals of what will be his final collegiate appearance.
“He’s more prepared this year,” Ragin’ Cajun coach Lance Veazey said. “He’s got the experience from the outdoor meet last year and that helped him indoors earlier this year.
The rest of the story
Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@lafayette.gannett.com
June 11th, 2004, 04:56 am
#24
Willis jumps tonight
AUSTIN, Texas — University of Louisiana triple jumper Lawrence Willis begins his quest for a third All-America honor tonight when he takes part in the qualifying rounds at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
Willis, a product of Iota, is one of 20 competitors in the triple jump and goes into the competition with the nation’s fourth-best jump this season, a 55-1 effort he posted at the Texas Relays on the same Myers Stadium track where he will be in action tonight.
Men’s triple jump qualifying begins at 8:30 p.m., and the top 12 jumpers advance to Saturday’s 7:15 p.m. finals.
Willis earned his trip to the NCAA national meet with a fourth-place finish at the NCAA Mideast Regionals in Baton Rouge two weekends ago. He had a 53-1 3/4 effort in securing that spot among good company, since the top four marks in the nation this outdoor season have been posted by athletes who were in the Mideast Regional.
The rest of the story
Quote
