The javelin competition, always big in the Guillory family, has just gotten bigger.
Alexis Guillory, a junior javelin thrower for LSU, can now give her father and former javelin champ Lyle Guillory, something that might just do his heart good.
The elder Guillory, 58, spent three months earlier this year at M.D. Anderson in Houston, and though he is back home in Alexandria, he is waiting for a heart transplant.
Alexis, one of four children of Lyle and Angela Guillory, qualified last week in Lexington, Ky., for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships next week in Eugene, Oregon. She did so at the NCAA East first-round competition with a personal-best throw of 51.28 meters, which is 168 feet, 3 inches.
Her first throw (162 feet) was good enough to qualify for nationals and finish in the top 12, but she launched her best throw on the second toss to finish in the top seven and trigger an eruption of cheers and tears from her teammates. Her third throw, as you might guess, was little more than a ritual since she’d already punched her ticket to Eugene. There, she will compete next Thursday night (June 11) at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field, a track complex so refined it is often called the sport’s “Carnegie Hall.”
She is among 24 competitors who will compete in the women’s javelin at the nationals. The field is determined by taking the top 12 finishers from each of the NCAA’s East and West preliminary rounds.
Like father, like daughter, it seems.
Lyle was a two-time all-state javelin thrower at Pineville High School, where he excelled in four sports, and he was a two-time All-American in the javelin competition at Louisiana-Monroe, then called Northeast Louisiana University. At one point in 1990, he had the fifth-best throw in the nation at 239 feet, 4 inches.
Lyle returned to Alexandria in 1992 to join the family business, Guillory Bonding Service, and after his father’s death in 1997, he expanded the company to the Southeast Region in 2005. Around the same time, he also started breeding and racing horses end eventually became president of the Louisiana Quarter Horse Breeders Association in 2017.
Alexis was one of the top javelin throwers in the country while competing at Alexandria Senior High School. Under the tutelage of her father, she was a five-time javelin All-American (two USATF and three AAU) and a three-time Class 5A state champ. Her best throw at ASH was 147-1.
But that was a mere appetizer for her college debut for LSU.
She opened her college career with a personal-best heave of 164 feet, 9 inches at the University of Miami’s Hurricane Invitational. She still can’t believe she delivered such a throw at her first collegiate meet.
“It was in Miami, and we were all so excited just to be there,” she said. “It was such a fun meet. Everyone was relaxed. I popped out that throw and it was so surreal. My parents were there, too, so that made it nice.”
Alexis said her father is the first person she goes to for advice when it comes to the javelin, and she said her mother is her “prayer warrior.” Her boyfriend, Kevin Burr Jr., is a junior javelin thrower at Rice University, where he was a second-team All-American two years ago. He is recovering from Tommy John surgery this year, but he has helped coach Alexis at times.
Alexis has endured some injuries herself while at LSU, especially several ankle sprains. She also missed an entire week of practice earlier this season to be with her dad at MDA.
She credits some valuable throwing technique tips and psychological advice to Andy Kokhanovsky, LSU’s assistant track and field coach in charge of those who throw things: shot put, discus, javelin and hammer. He has an extensive background coaching at various schools, and he represented the Ukraine in the discus competition in the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.
Alexis works out three hours a day, at least five days a week, but that hasn’t diminished her schoolwork. Since joining LSU, she has been a regular on the SEC Academic Honor Rolls, with a 3.5 GPA. She also coaches an AAU summer track team in Alexandria in addition to being a personal coach for 10-year-old turbo javelin star Kennedy Luss of Alexandria Country Day, who is headed to the AAU Junior Olympics in Des Moines, Iowa later this month.
Her interest in coaching has her planning to become a teacher and track coach after college. Meanwhile, she is honing her own game and carving out a plan to qualify for the next U.S. Olympic Trials for track and field in 2028 preceding the Summer Olympic Games that year in Los Angeles.
The family genes and Alexis Mae Guillory’s attitude and work ethic seem to be a good recipe for achieving that goal.