Shotputter Lawrence Kensinger breaks 53-year-old record at City championships
When Lawrence Kensinger entered the circle for his final throw of the City Section shot put final Thursday afternoon at Lake Balboa, he felt an adrenaline rush like never before.
Energized by spectators and other competitors cheering behind him, the Venice High senior gave them reason to rejoice with his herculean heave of 65 feet, 11 inches, breaking a 53-year-old city record and taking the state lead in the event.
“Number one baby!” Kensinger shouted as he hugged his father, Cliff. “When you release it, you don’t even feel it coming out of your hand… it’s like air,” he said. “That’s how you know it’s good. It was amazing!”
After scraping his first two attempts by hopping the springboard, Kensinger played it safe on his third, then went wild in the fourth to shatter the sectional record of 64-08.75 set by Narbonne’s David Gerasimchuck in 1973. It was the second-oldest city record behind the men’s pole vault which dates back to 1969.
“I’m 62 [feet] “It kind of occurred to me, but on the third pitch I just wanted to score. Then on the last one I was told to go out there and rip it.
Kensinger played football in ninth and 10th grade, but stopped focusing on shot put. Her goal at last year’s state competition was to advance to the finals. This time, he wants to climb to the top of the podium.
He works with Nick Garcia, the strength and conditioning coach at Notre Dame High in Sherman Oaks. “I’ve been throwing since my freshman year and I go to his clinics and train with him once a week. He gives me my lifting routine. I send him videos and he does technical analysis. Having a good coach is vital. I couldn’t have done this without him.”
Venice senior Lawrence Kensinger made it 65-11 in City’s final Thursday at Birmingham High.
(Steve Galluzzo / For Time)
Kensinger improved to 65-3.5 thrown by Case Jacobson of Mountain View St. Francis at the Arcadia Invitational in April.
“I was watching that number…he beat me there,” added Kensinger, whose previous record was 59-08 at the Irvine Invitational earlier this spring.
“I like to say it’s just baby steps, but 65 is the highest in the country. I was consistently throwing 60 in practice, so I knew I could do it.”
The current national leader is CJ Williams of Frisco Heritage High in Texas with a mark of 72-0.25.
Kensinger wants to go to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, where his father played football, but he has not yet signed with the Mustangs.
“I’m just a shooter right now, but I’d like to do shooting and hammer throwing in college,” Kensinger said. “Hammer is very technical because you do four turns instead of one.”
Was this record the highlight of his career?
“Until now,” he said. “But I still have a lot to accomplish.”
Jayden Rendon, who repeated as champion in the 110 and 300 hurdles, also had a day to remember at Birmingham High. The Carson senior clocked 14.35 seconds in the 110, winning by nearly a full second, then winning the 300 by more than two seconds in 37.39.
“Today was about moving on to the next round,” said Rendon, last year’s state champion in the 300 with a personal best of 36.50. “I’m just happy to compete and move forward. The work isn’t done yet…I’m looking to defend my 300 state title.”
Rendon, committed to USC, ran a personal best 13.72 in the 110 at Arcadia and clocked 13.9 in that event at the state finals last season.
“My season best in the 300 is 36.8 at the Mt. SAC Relays, so I can go a lot faster than today. My goal for the 110 at state is 13.3 [seconds].”
Hamilton junior Evan Fields won the men’s 200 in 22.17 and the 400 in 49.00.
North Hollywood senior Ananya Balaraman won the girls’ 1,600 for the second straight time in 5:07.6, edging Palisades’ Daila Harinck by less than a second, then took third in the 800, won by Annabelle Refnes of Venice.
“My time was better last year, but this one was tougher,” said Balaraman, who won his second straight City Division I cross country title in the fall and is headed to Columbia. “Dalia has a good kick. She got me into the 800m in the preliminaries, so I expected her to kick at the end.”
Granada Hills’ Samantha Pacheco won the girls 3,200 in 11:23 while Zach Cohen, who won the Division I cross country race in the fall and helped Palisades win the Open Division tennis championship on April 29, edged out Dolphins teammate Ethan Funk by 11 hundredths of a second in the boys race, winning in 9:40 flat.
Carson sprinter Christina Gray ran the first leg of her team’s winning 4×100 relay, then won the 100 meters in 12.14 and the 200 meters in 24.45 as the Colts regained the women’s team crown after their nine-game streak was snapped last season by Granada Hills.
“I’m out of breath,” Gray said. “Everything happened back-to-back and with negative winds, but I’m happy that I was able to defend all my titles. I’ve been moving up the ranks nationally, so I have to be first this year.”
Granada Hills won its fifth straight boys title with 75 points, building a huge lead in the field events and holding off second-place Palisades (68).
