NATCHITOCHES – The Northwestern State track and field team qualified nine athletes for 12 spots in Sunday's finals while scoring well in the triple jump Saturday in the 2019 Southland Conference Outdoor Championships at the Walter P. Ledet Track Complex.
 
The Demons and Lady Demons are each in third place in team standings entering Sunday's final day, when 25 event finals will be contested. Competition starts with field events at 10 a.m., then running begins at noon with NSU defending 4x100 meter relay championships in both genders.
 
Of all the NSU qualifiers Saturday, none was more impressive than Tremayne Flagler in the 110 meter hurdles. The senior from Atlanta, Georgia, ran a 13.87 to lead all 17 competitors, just 0.01 away from the school record held by Joe Rhyans in 1992. Flagler's time ranks as the NCAA's 24^th-best this season.
 
Three NSU athletes qualified for the finals in two events.
 
Senior Micah Larkins won his heat in both the 100 (10.29) and 200 (21.01) dashes. The Princeton native placed fourth and sixth overall in the preliminary round. Larkins will run the second leg on the 4x100 relay, aiming for his fourth straight gold in that event, while he can claim his third Southland 100 dash victory, winning in 2016 and last year.
 
Lady Demons junior standout Natashia Jackson also double-dipped in the prelims, qualifying for the 200 and 400. The Houston product ran the fastest time in the 400 at 53.03 and set a new personal best in the 200 of 23.67, winning her heat and placing second overall. She is also slated to compete in the 4x100 and 4x400 relays Sunday, events the NSU women swept last year.
 
Joining Larkins is sophomore Tre'Darius Carr who qualified for the 100 (10.38) and 200 (20.99), placing seventh overall in each event. Both of his qualifying times are personal-bests.  Carr, like Larkins a 2018 first-team 4x100 All-American, will run the anchor leg in that race Sunday.
 
"We had a really good day. Tre'Darius was huge with his two PR's, and Javin Arrington (a 100 dash qualifier with a personal best 10.46 time) did great as well," said head track and field coach Mike Heimerman. "We are stacked up pretty good in the sprints heading into Sunday. The relays will be interesting, especially the men's 4x100. It will be a dog fight with Sam Houston for sure." 
 
"Overall great performances from the sprinters," said associate head coach and sprints coach Adam Pennington. "With (relay All-American) Kie'Ave Harry out, our male sprinters stepped up and had some solid qualifiers to carry us into the finals."
 
Quindarrius Thompson had the best conference finish of his career and was NSU's highest point scorer of the day. The junior from Fort Polk leaped his way into a second-place finish in the triple jump finals with a mark of 49-11 ¾. Thompson's silver awarded the Demons eight team points.
 
A day after a sensational battle in the long jump, Lady Demon junior Jasmyn Steels had yet another intense contest with Sarea Alexander of Incarnate Word, this time in the triple jump. Alexander, a senior ranked 12^th in the NCAA in the event, again prevailed with a complex record-breaking gold medal performance of 43-2 ½. Steels, who focuses on the long jump in her training, finished third with the best series of her career, highlighted by her bronze medal jump of 42-0 ½, a new personal-best by nearly two feet. That added six points for the Lady Demons.
 
"It was a great series and I had fun," said Steels. "I popped off some jumps and hit a PR. I think I did good for an event I hardly practice."
 
The Lady Demons collected 12 points in the triple jump as Ariel Watson took fourth (41-6 ½) and Brooke Petkovich was eighth (39-1). 
 
Other NSU qualifiers include Jayla Fields in the women's 200 (24.28, a PR), Javin Arrington in the men's 100 (10.46, a PR) Kimani Evans in the women's 100 (11.82, a PR), Charlie Milton in the men's 400 hurdles (54.00) and Slavoski Wright in the men's 800 (1:55.46).
 
Scores after day two:
 
Women-1) Stephen F. Austin 65, 2) Abilene Christian 62, 3) Northwestern State 50, 4) Incarnate Word 38, 5) McNeese 25, 6) Texas A&M-CC 20, 7) Sam Houston St. 19, 7) Southeastern La. 19, 9) Lamar 16,, 10) Houston Baptist 13, 11) Central Arkansas 12, 12) Nicholls 6, 12) New Orleans 6
 
 
Men- 1) Sam Houston St. 47, 2) Abilene Christian 37, 3) Northwestern State 32, 4) Lamar 26, 5) Incarnate Word 25, 6) Central Arkansas 19, 6) Stephen F. Austin 19, 8) Houston Baptist 18, 8) New Orleans 18, 10) Texas A&M-CC 14, 11) McNeese 12, 12) Southeastern La. 6