HOUSTON – The Northwestern State men's and women's track and field teams pulled in 11 top 10 finishes on its second, and final, day of competition at Houston's Howie Ryan Invitational on Saturday.
 
A second place performance by Kendal Taylor in the 60m dash (6.82) and third place finish by Quiana Griffin in the 400m dash (57.46) were the highest of the meet for the NSU teams.
 
The Lady Demons had four other top 10 finishers for the day. Senior Janae Allen crushed her previous best shot put mark of 44-08.00, which she set just last week, by almost three feet when she registered a heave of 47-03.75, finishing fifth.
 
Sarah Jones and Jerrica Tillery grabbed the no. five and six spots in the triple jump with leaps of 38-07.50 and 38-02.00, respectively. The women's 4x400 team of Griffin, Constance Seibles, Madison Morton and Consuela Lindsay turned in a sixth place finish, clocking in at 3:54.51.
 
“Janae was really our leader today and had a phenomenal day,” said Lady Demon head coach Mike Heimerman. “Quiana ran a strong race and competed very well and Sarah Emory, Sarah Jones and Jerrica also turned in good performances for us.
 
“We had a good work week but still are not where we want to be. We have four weeks until the conference meet so we will continue to work hard and try to improve until then.”
 
The Demons snagged five top 10 finishes aside from Taylor's performance. Senior Wayne Douglas and sophomore Aaron Williams placed fourth and 10^th in the triple jump with marks of 47-11.25 and 45-08.00, respectively.
 
Freshman Lionel Ellison had another great week in the high jump, placing 8^th at a height of 6-02.75.
 
Hanoj Carter, another freshman, finished ninth in the 200m dash with a time of 22.45 while sophomore Keenan Jackson turned in a 7^th place performance in the 400m dash, clocking in at 50.35.
 
“We made some great improvements in the sprints today,” said Demon head coach Leon Johnson. “We have some work to do in the jumps but we know what the problems are and we know how to fix them.
 
“Justin's (Walker) time yesterday in the 60m dash prelims (6.80) puts him at no. 1 in conference and Kendal's today in the finals is second.”
 
The NSU squads travel to Joplin, Mo. next weekend to compete in the Missouri Southern Lion Open.