LSU athletes Lipsey, Hinton honored by SEC

Gymnast Jordan also recognized

For the second week in a row, two members of the LSU women’s track and field team have been honored as Southeastern Conference Athletes of the Week for their performances last week.

Junior Charlene Lipsey and sophomore Denise Hinton were recognized Tuesday among the league’s weekly award winners.

Lipsey was named the SEC Women’s Runner of the Week for the first time in her career after her NCAA-leading season opener in the 800-meter run on Saturday at the Razorback Invitational.

Hinton was honored as the SEC Women’s Co-Field Athlete of the Week following her school-record and SEC-leading performance in the 20-pound weight throw during last weekend’s competition.

In her 2012 season debut in the 800 meters on Saturday, Lipsey emerged as the NCAA leader and an NCAA title contender with an indoor personal record of 2 minutes, 3.79 seconds for the win in the invitational race at the Razorback Invitational.

Lipsey defeated Arkansas All-American Stephanie Brown (2:03.93) on her home track at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Ark., to win the event.

Lipsey, who entered the meet with an indoor PR of 2:04.55 set during her sophomore season in 2011, rose to the top of this season’s NCAA rankings with the No. 3-ranked performance on LSU’s all-time indoor performance in the women’s 800-meter run.

Hinton shattered the LSU school record in the weight throw with a runner-up finish on Saturday afternoon with a PR of 66 feet, 1½ inches, which No. 1 in the SEC and No. 14 in the NCAA this season.

Hinton eclipsed the school record in the event set by Mallory McDonald (65-2¾) during the 2003 indoor campaign.

Hinton has set personal bests in each of LSU’s three meets for the season with marks of 57-8½ at the Crimson Tide Indoor Opener on Jan. 14, 63-2 at the LSU-Texas A&M Dual Meet on Jan. 21 and 66-1½ at the Arkansas Razorback Invitational.

Gymnastics

JORDAN EARNS SEC HONOR: After winning her first all-around title at Georgia, LSU gymnast Jessie Jordan was named the Southeastern Conference Co-Freshman of the Week, the league office announced Tuesday.

Jordan captured the all-around title with a 39.250 score at No. 7 Georgia, and set season highs on vault (9.875) and bars (9.750) on the way to her first individual title at LSU.

Jordan’s 39.250 was the highest all-around score by a freshman in the SEC last weekend, beating out teammate Lloimincia Hall, who finished .025 behind Jordan for the all-around title at Georgia with a 39.225.

It also marked the first time an LSU gymnast won the all-around crown away from Baton Rouge since Susan Jackson won the NCAA All-Around title with a 39.625 at the 2010 NCAA Championships in Gainesville, Fla.

Jordan shared the honor with Florida’s Kytra Hunter, who helped lead the Gators to a win over Arkansas.

LSU (1-6, 1-2 SEC) will take on Kentucky at 7 p.m. Friday at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

Tickets are available at $5 for adults and $3 for children ages 3-12.

Visit www.LSUtix.net, call [phone] or visit the LSU Athletics Ticket Office on the first floor of the Athletic Administration Building on campus to purchase tickets.

Volleyball

SIGNEE LEAK TABBED 2011 PREPVOLLEYBALL.COM NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE YEAR FINALIST: LSU volleyball signee Cati Leak was named a finalist for the 2011 PrepVolleyball.com’s National Player of the Year as announced by the organization.

Honorees were required to have statistics that were the best on their team at their position and be one of the top two players in their state regardless of class.

The senior players were not required to play on a team that won a state championship. However, 37 of the 51 players on the finalist list were 2011 state champions.