By Jonathon Zenk, Northwestern State Assistant Director of Communications; featured photo by Ethan Lowe, Samford
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama—The more things change, the more things stay the same.
With one more event left, the Northwestern State women trailed Lamar by three points, looking for s Southland Conference Indoor Championship three-peat.
The event—the 4×400 relay—just happens to be the bread-and-butter for the program.
Just like during last season’s outdoor title, Northwestern State knew it had to win. This time around, it needed Lamar to finish third or lower.
Just like last season, the Lady Demons achieved greatness, rolling to not only the gold medal in the event, but also coming from behind to claim the championship, 118-115 over Lamar.
The Lady Demons quartet of Maygan Shaw, Tranasia Jones, Samari Finney and Margaret Conteh clocked a 3:42.77 to win the gold and Lamar finished fifth to secure the three-peat.
“Last night when talking to the team, I challenged them,” head coach Mike Heimerman said. “I thought we had a good, but not great, day one.
“The shot put set everything up. Ryah (Dates) had a great day. Everyone stepped up. We were expecting 11 points from that event and we scored 18. We need to have more people step up than mess up and they did that today.”
They are the first team to win three consecutive Southland women’s titles since Sam Houston State did so from 2016-18.
The 4×400 relay was one of two gold medals won by the Lady Demons, as Shaw not only won as a part of the relay team but also dominated in the 400-meter dash.
Shaw clocked a Southland meet record 52.97 to claim the gold, finishing more than a second ahead of relay teammate Conteh, who ran a 54.04, who captured the silver.
Jones (56.05), Finney (56.21) and Kahliyah Anderson (56.55) finished sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively.
Dynia Lewis capped off a terrific indoor season with a silver medal in the 60-meter hurdles and just missed the podium in the 60-meter dash.
Lewis ran a personal-best 8.41 to finish with the silver to begin her afternoon. She followed that up with a 7.55 in the 60, which tied a personal best and she narrowly missed the podium, placing fourth.
Her performance earned her the SLC Female Co-Newcomer of the Year.
In the women’s 60-meter hurdles, Raven-Symone Jarrett (8.69) placed fifth, while Madison Brown ran a personal-best 8.86 to claim seventh.
While Lewis finished fourth in the 60, she finished right behind Sileena Farrell, who reached the podium, clocking a personal-best 7.42.
The women’s shot put had a massive day, recording three in the top five, led by freshman Ryan Dates, who tossed a personal-best 49-2,25, She held the lead up until the final throw of the day, where she was beaten out by Texas A&M-Corpus Christi’s Emily Malouf and Dates settled for silver.
Joining Dates on the medal stand was Shakera Williams, who threw a 46-2.75 to finish with the bronze.
Carnitra Mackey placed fifth with a season-best toss of 45-9.
On the men’s side, they finished the meet with a 4×400 relay victory, as William Achee edged out East Texas A&M to claim the gold for the Demons with a time of 3:10.78.
As a team, Northwestern State’s men finished in seventh place, scoring 56 points. In its return to the Southland, Stephen F. Austin ran away with the team championship with 124 points, ending the reign of dominance from UIW.
Two of the members of the relay team competed in the 400-meter dash. Achee earned the silver with a time of 47.36, while Vincente Graiani ran a 48.03 to play seventh.
Tavis Wilson clocked a 6.80 in the 60-meter dash to place fifth, while Tajae Francis ran a 6.87 to finish seventh.
John Klein ran a personal-best 8:42.08 to finish 29th.
In the field for the men, Abner Johnson earned points in the shot put, tossing a 51-9.25 to finish eighth.
Tarajh Hudson (49-11) just missed earning points, placing 10th. Justin Craft (49-0.75) finished 13th and Donovahn Wakins’ season-best 46-5.5 placed 16th.
In the men’s pentathlon, Bruce Boon posted a score of 5092 to place fifth, finishing only 56 points out of a spot on the podium.
“I want to thank the coaches and athletes,” Heimerman said. “The cold weather and long trips during the indoor season and we have persevered. This weather in Natchitoches has been the worst weather in 15 years.”