HAMMOND – After taking a week off for spring break, the Northwestern State track and field teams make up for lost time with two meets in south Louisiana this weekend, lining up Friday in the Southeastern Lion Invitational before some NSU competitors take part Saturday in the LSU Alumni Gold meet in Baton Rouge.
 
The double-dip is designed in part to prep the NSU athletes for the upcoming Southland Conference Championships May 11-13 in San Marcos, Texas, where runners will go through qualifying heats for finals following the next day.
 
“It's a good opportunity for our athletes to experience the bounce-back situation they'll encounter at the conference meet, and it comes at a good time, three weeks away,” said Lady Demon coach Mike Heimerman.
 
At Southeastern, NSU will also be joined in the field by Lamar, Louisiana-Lafayette, Loyola, McNeese, Southern and Tulane, along with unattached competitors. It is the first home meet for SLU in more than a decade and will be the first event contested on the new Southeastern Track Complex.
 
LSU has instituted qualifying standards for its annual Alumni Gold competition, with athletes from teams throughout the south and some from the Midwest expected to compete along with many Olympic hopefuls on Saturday at the Bernie Moore Track Complex.
 
“We'll be going to a quality competition at LSU with a great opportunity to improve our marks,” said Demons' coach Leon Johnson. “We're excited to see the new facility at Southeastern (where head coach Sean Brady is a former Demon competitor) and get on the track with some of our natural rivals.”
 
The Demons have 26 athletes who have reached qualifying standards for the Southland championships. One of their best, triple jumper Wayne Douglas, is coming off a heel injury and will warm up Friday and decide if he's ready to go. In any case, he'll try again at LSU.
 
The Lady Demons, second at last year's Southland Outdoors, have qualified 19 athletes for that meet, more than they had in 2011.
 
Freshman javelin thrower Ashley Aldredge, ranked 13^th nationally with her 166-0 best, will take a shot Saturday at the 13-year-old school record of 166-9 by All-American Regina Roe.
 
“There should be some very good competition at LSU so it will be exciting to see what Ashley does,” said Heimerman.
 
Friday, senior thrower Chantel Bratton could shine again after coming off the best meet of her career with personal records in both the shot put and discus at the Leon Johnson NSU Invitational on Good Friday.
 
“She's throwing extremely well and peaking at the right time,” said Heimerman.
 
Other top Lady Demon entries are both the 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams (the 4x400 will run only at LSU), and sprinters Quiana Griffin, Consuela Lindsay and Constance Seibles.
 
Next weekend, some Northwestern competitors will travel to the prestigious Drake Relays, where the meet director is Dr. Brian Brown, the six-time NSU All-American and two-time national champion high jumper from 1987-90.