NATCHITOCHES – By competing Friday in The Leon Johnson NSU Invitational, two-time USA Olympic triple jumper Kenta Bell and 2011 NCAA women's discus champion Trecey Rew Hoover will help shine the spotlight on the current Northwestern State track and field competitors in their only home meet this spring.
 
Field events start at 10 with senior recognitions at 1:30 and running beginning at 2 in the seven-team, non-scored event at the Walter P. Ledet Track and Field Complex. Admission is $5. Bell, a three-time All-American for the Demons before earning his business degree in 2000, will compete at 1 while Hoover, also a three-time All-American, will throw the discus beginning about 3 following the men's competition in that event.
 
Southland Conference members Lamar, Texas-Arlington, Central Arkansas, Nicholls and Southeastern will be joined by state rival Louisiana-Lafayette and several unattached competitors in the field. Among those will be another former NSU All-American, USA Olympic javelin hopeful Samantha Ford Hatten, and former Demon sprint standout Michael Green.
 
Lady Demon freshman phenom Ashley Aldredge, whose 165-9 javelin best in four meets this season ranks ninth nationally, should throw alongside Hatten about 11 a.m. as the women's javelin follows the men's competition beginning at 10.
 
Also at 10: the women's hammer throw and pole vault, and the men's long jump and high jump. At 2, the men throw the discus and the women will compete in the shot put. The opposite gender follows in each field event.
 
Running actually begins at 8 with the 10,000 meter runs (women first) but the rest of the races start at 2 with the 3000 meter steeplechase, followed by the 4x100 meter relay, the 1500, the women's 100 meter hurdles, the men's 110 hurdles, the 400, 100, 800, 200, 3000 and the last event, the exciting 4x400 relay. On the track, the women's races in each event will be first.
 
Bell competed in the Athens and Beijing Olympics and has been one of the world's top triple jumpers for the past decade. Hoover, who married over the winter, capped her senior season with the NCAA discus crown last June.
 
The meet name was changed last year, honoring NSU's venerable track coach, who has been in charge of the program since 1982. He is now the men's coach, with Mike Heimerman in charge of the women's team, which finished second in the Southland Conference last season.
 
Among the top Lady Demon entries will be sprinters Constance Seibles, Quiana Griffin, Consuela Lindsay and middle distance standout Lawana Perkins, along with throwers Janae Allen, Chantel Bratton and Keona Jackson, and jumper Sarah Jones.
 
Sprinters Trey Hatton, Karllis Perry, Keenan Jackson, Lawrence Jackson and Dez Williams are among the stronger entries for the Demons, joined by distance ace Mark Dotson, hurdler P.J. Bennett and jumpers Aaron Williams and Emmanuel Williams.
 
Both Northwestern teams will be strong again in the relays, the 4x100 and the 4x400.