Winning in Every Field: Jack Larriviere

LSU’s Jack Larriviere Launches Javelins—and His Own Promising Future in Engineering 

Video by Callie Boyd

LSU student-athlete Jack Larriviere can throw a javelin 71 meters. That’s 232 feet or about two-thirds of a football field. But track and field wasn’t Larriviere’s sole athletic focus. 

“I didn't pick up a javelin until my senior year of high school. Up until that point, I was just a football and baseball player, and I was actually committed to go play quarterback at the college level before picking up the javelin,” Larriviere said. “After football season my senior year, I really just got kind of bored and wanted to try something new. I talked to my high school track and field coach, and he let me just go out and try the javelin.” 

Larriviere, a native of New Orleans, qualified for the Louisiana state championship, held at LSU’s Bernie Moore Track Stadium. He set a Louisiana state record for the javelin that day: 228 feet and 10 and a half inches. 

“I don't know how long it'll stand, but I still have it (the record),” Larriviere said. 

He’s also in the LSU record books. During the 2023 season, Larriviere suffered a serious lower back injury that sidelined him for the entire season.   

“After countless days of rehab and physical therapy, I was able to come back for one meet at the very end of the 2024 season, which was here at LSU. Uh. There was no pressure, no expectation, but my coach said that I felt good enough to just go out there and give it a shot. And I did. I wound up throwing the No. 6 throw in LSU history that day with 71 meters and 61 centimeters.”  

Now, Larriviere is a fourth-year chemical engineering major, competing for LSU with aspirations to work in the petroleum industry and compete in the Olympics.  

“I would love to be able to stay in Louisiana and work for an oil and gas refinery, a chemical manufacturer, any company that is driving innovation in this industry, having that opportunity to not only better the industry, but also better the community that has given so much to me,” he said. “Once I do graduate from LSU, the Olympics are in Los Angeles in 2028, and it would be awesome to be able to continue to train with the goal of hopefully competing on that Olympic stage one day.” 

Larriviere said his LSU experience has prepared him for both.  

“Being a student athlete here at LSU has helped me grow in more ways than I could ever imagine. I like to think of it as my time here at LSU is developing and placing the correct tools in the toolbox I need to continue on in my life,” Larriviere said. “Especially being a student athlete, the time management and the discipline that I have accrued throughout my years here and been able to fine-tune, will definitely prepare me for the next level of being a professional.”  

Part of that professional development included a summer internship with a petroleum company in Lake Charles. 

“It was a beautiful experience that truly bridged the gap between the theory that I learned here at LSU and the real engineering practice that goes on in the day-to-day life of these oil and gas refineries or chemical manufacturers.” 

He said his passion for math and science grew in high school, leading him to pursue engineering. 

“Then growing up in Louisiana, being surrounded by oil and gas refineries and chemical manufacturers, directed me down the path of chemical engineering. LSU has an amazing program, and whenever I came to visit here, I was immediately drawn to it. It has been a great experience so far, and I definitely look forward to seeing what this degree can do for me when I graduate.”