LAKE CHARLES – Medal stand performances by Northwestern State's Janae Allen, Sarah Jones, Porsha Thomas and Jessica Talley highlighted day two of competition at the Southland Conference Outdoor Championships on Saturday at the Cameron Communications Track and Field Complex.
 
Allen finished second in the shot put after throwing a season-best mark of 47-07.75. The senior placed fifth in the hammer throw on Friday and will compete in the discus on Sunday afternoon.
 
“Janae had a good day in the shot put and bounced back after having kind of a rough time in the hammer yesterday,” said Lady Demon head coach Mike Heimerman. “She got some upsetting personal news this morning but she showed up huge for her team today and got second.”
 
Jones and Thomas went two and three in the long jump as both posted leaps of 18-09.25. Jones' second-best jump of 18-07.75 broke the tie to give her the silver medal. Both Jones and Thomas will compete in the triple jump on Sunday.
 
“We had a great day in the long jump today,” said Heimerman. “Sarah ended up second and Porsha was third. Their jumps were right at their season-bests, if not their season-best (Thomas) and I was very happy with the way they got in there and competed.”
 
Talley earned a third place finish in the javelin after throwing for 151-04 on her second attempt.
 
“Jessica had some problems with her approach in the javelin today,” said Heimerman. “She still threw fairly well and third place is pretty good with three girls throwing over 151 feet.”
 
Junior Quiana Griffin won her heat and finished third overall in the 400m dash prelims, crossing the finish line in a season-best 54.75 to qualify for the finals on Sunday.
 
“Quiana is sitting pretty good for the 400m final,” said Heimerman. “She will have an inside lane by the fastest girl which I think she will probably like. I have no doubt that she will show up tomorrow and compete for a conference title.”
 
On the men's side, sophomore Emmanuel Williams leapt to a fourth place finish in the long jump, posting a mark of 23-10.00. He will join his brother, Aaron Williams, and senior Wayne Douglas in the triple jump competition in the final day of competition.
 
The Demons had a phenomenal day in the sprints, qualifying two athletes in the 100m finals, three in the 200m, one in the 110m hurdles and one in the 400m.
 
As expected, junior Justin Walker and freshman Hanoj Carter notched the top times in the 100m dash, clocking in at 10.481 and 10.490, respectively.
 
Walker and Carter will also compete in the 200m dash finals along with senior Kendal Taylor. Taylor registered the fastest time of the trio, finishing second in 21.08 while Walker followed closely, placing third in 21.18. Carter took sixth in the preliminary race with a time of 21.23.
 
Sophomore Brent Giddens posted a season-best time of 14.89 in the 110m hurdles to place sixth in the prelims and advance to the finals.
 
Keenan Jackson set a new personal record in the 400m dash prelims, sprinting to a fourth place finish in 47.54.
 
The Lady Demons finished the day fifth in the team standings with 34 points, three points behind fourth place McNeese State and five points shy of third place Central Arkansas.
 
“We look forward to having Quiana in the 400m finals tomorrow as well as the 4x100, 4x400, Aly Coughlin in the 1500m and then probably our two best events, which are the discus and the triple jump,” said Heimerman. “We are looking to place two or three on the podium in the discus and triple and score a decent amount of points.”
 
The men's team is ninth after the second day of competition but should gain a significant amount of points on Sunday.
 
“We had a very good day in the sprints today,” said Demon head coach Leon Johnson. “We should do very well in the 100m and 200m tomorrow and Keenan and Brent have the potential to improve in their races as well. We also have our 4x100 tomorrow, which we should win as long as everyone runs to their full capability.”
 
The final day of competition begins on Sunday morning at 10:00 o'clock with the men's discus and women's high jump.