COLLEGE STATION, Texas – With one week remaining in the indoor track and field season, the Northwestern State coaching staff has to strike a balance between rest and keeping the Demons and Lady Demons in prime form.
 
"A dull pencil doesn't write very well, so we have to keep everybody sharp," head coach Mike Heimerman said.
 
To do so, the spread-out Northwestern State squads will have athletes competing in three separate meets in two different states.
 
The preponderance of the Demons and Lady Demons will take part in the Texas A&M Invitational on Saturday, competing in a building where the Northwestern State's women's team took home a third straight Ted Nelson Invitational crown in January.
 
"It's a phenomenal facility," Heimerman said of the Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium. "A lot of our kids are from Texas, and they love going home and competing in front of friends and family. Our kids love showing up at big-time meets and doing big-time things."
 
While most of the Northwestern State teams will take part in the Texas A&M Invitational, a pair of Lady Demons will compete Friday away from their teammates.
 
Senior sprinter Natashia Jackson, coming off a Southland Conference indoor record time of 53.65 in the 400 meters, will compete in the Matador Qualifier at Texas Tech. Jackson, the reigning Southland Conference Indoor Track Athlete of the Weeks, will compete solely in the 400 meters.
 
Her record run at the Tyson Invitational this past Friday was the 31^st-fastest time in the nation, placing her .52 away from qualifying for the NCAA Indoor Championships from March 13-14 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
 
"It's a really fast track out there and a good field," Heimerman said. "We wanted to give Speedy an opportunity to focus on the 400, because we can't wait to do it at conference. She'll be loaded up at conference. She'll do a lot for the team, and she has done a lot for the team, so we made the decision to send her and coach (Adam) Pennington to Lubbock to give her an opportunity to qualify for the indoor national meet."
 
The 400 meters is set to begin at 7:45 p.m. inside the Sports Performance Center.
 
Much like Jackson, sophomore pole vaulter Annemarie Broussard will compete Friday at the LSU Twilight meet with a chance to position herself in the national championship meet.
 
Broussard enters the final pre-conference meet week of the season ranked 24^th nationally after a school indoor record clearance of 13-9.25 on Feb. 1 at the Houston G5 & Super 22 Invitational. That mark is two inches shy of the top 16, which qualify for the indoor national meet. The pole vault competition begins at 2:30 p.m. Friday inside the Carl Maddox Field House.
 
The remainder of the Demons and Lady Demons will take the final steps toward preparing for the Feb. 29-March 1 Southland Conference Indoor Championships in Birmingham, Alabama. The Texas A&M Invitational features 15 teams, including six other Southland Conference schools.
 
They will do so with a singular focus.
 
"We're scaling way back," Heimerman said. "They're pretty much doing one event, because we're basically one week from conference. We'll try to improve our seeding and fine tune some of our other things to go to Birmingham and be successful.
 
"It will be almost like another day of practice, because we've had another lovely week of Louisiana weather where we haven't been able to train much. We'll use it as another day of work."