HUMBLE, Texas – The championship picture starts to come into focus during the second day of the track meet as sprinters fill the finals heat and the field events are two-thirds complete.

The Northwestern State women still have a fighting chance in the Southland Conference Outdoor Championships with seven sprinters and two hurdlers in the finals and another strong day in the jumps.

The Lady Demons sit in fourth place with 44 points, chasing a McNeese squad (74) that isn't predicated on sprints as well as Abilene Christian (60) and Stephen F. Austin (54).

The final day of the championships begins at 8 a.m. with the women's discus and men's high jump with running events rolling at 9 a.m. at George Turner Stadium.

"We're going to give it everything we have and let the chips fall where they may," said NSU coach Mike Heimerman, who acknowledged the uphill battle on the final day. "There are thunderstorms expected to roll in, so that's why we're starting early.

"But I'm proud of where this team is and the effort they've given. We had a good day in the sprints and jumps.

In the women's triple jump, Jasmyn Steels obliterated her season best mark and leapt to silver with a 42-7.5.

Steels, who hadn't jumped 40 feet this season, posted NSU's second-best jump in school history.

The national champion long jumper nailed her personal record on each of her last two jumps, which also ranks 16^th in the NCAA East Region, entering in the NCAA Championship stage conversation (top 12 advance).

It took an SLC meet record from Abilene Christian's Ella Anttila (43-7) to keep Steels from another gold.

Monique Walker scored in her second event of the weekend when she logged a personal record 38-11.75, which she jumped twice as well, to place seventh.

NSU logged 10 points in the women's triple jump.

"Jasmyn is a competitor who's been on the big stage, so she knows what to do mentally," Heimerman said. "She was super consistent today, and she's just a gamer.

"Monique has been one of those who's stepped up big time. She's struggled at times this season like everyone has, but she's stuck with it and scored in two events this weekend."

Steels will complete her SLC career Sunday in the high jump, where she enters ranked fifth.

The men were nearly as successful in the event as two jumpers teamed up for eight points.

Quindarrius Thompson (50-10.75) finished fourth and Nikaoli Williams sixth (49-11.25) as Thompson topped the 50-foot mark for the fourth time this season.

Williams scored in his second event after snatching sixth in the long jump Friday.

"Quindarrius has been pretty consistent all season, battling through injuries like everyone else has," Heimerman said. "He fought and got fourth.

"Nikaoli has a bright future here. He's been banged up all fall and spring, and he's kind of coming on strong at the end. He's had a big finish."

Sprinter Natashia Jackson advanced in the 200 and 400 meters, leading a cadre of seven sprint slots filled by Lady Demons as Jackson keeps the possibility of 20 career gold medals alive with four races Sunday.

Three Lady Demons will flood the 200 finals as all three sprinters placed in the top six of preliminaries.

Jackson set the stage by finishing second with a 23.72.

Diana Granados (23.99) and Jayla Fields (24.16) join Jackson in the finals with a fifth and sixth-place showing, respectively.

In the 200, Jackson blew away the competition with a season-best 53.69, the only runner to run a sub-54.

Granados squeaked into the finals with an eighth-place finish at 55.88.

Jayla Fields and Lynell Washington advanced to the 100 finals with impressive showings.

Fields, who has already placed fourth in the long jump Friday, will score more points in the 100 finals Sunday after clocking a personal record 11.70.

Lynell Washington took the final 100 spot with an 11.73 despite not having run a race since early March because of injury. Washington won the gold in the 60 indoors.

Janiel Moore is a title threat in both 100 and 400 hurdles by finishing in the top two in the prelims in both races. Moore enters the 400 hurdle finals as the favorite after posting a personal record 1:00.02. She came close to a personal mark in the 100 hurdles with a 13.56 to win her heat and place second overall.

"We executed pretty well and are set up in a great position Sunday," Heimerman said. "Janiel was phenomenal in the hurdles, and the women did well in all three sprints.

"Lynell did a great job not having run since March, and Jayla did well too. Speedy and Diana took care of business in the 200 and 400. It's a testament to the sprints program Coach Adam Pennington has set up."

NSU will have nine chances in the short sprints/hurdles to score points compared to leader McNeese's one chance, ACU's three chances and SFA's nine chances.

Both SFA and ACU have the favorites in the two remaining women's field events.

On the men's side, NSU qualified two sprinters into finals races.

Kie'Ave Harry bolted into the 100 finals with a 10.26 to place sixth in the preliminaries. The field was extremely fast Saturday with Sam Houston's Bryan Henderson (9.96) and Central Arkansas' Zachary Jewell (10.09) both breaking the SLC meet record.

That 10.12 record was held by former NSU sprinter Micah Larkins, clocked at the 2018 SLC Outdoor Championships.

Tre'Darius Carr, Kennedy Harrison and Javin Arrington all ran between a 10.45 and 10.49 to finish 11^th, 12^th and 14^th.

Their heat logged a 2.4 wind, where the other heats marked a 2.8 and 5.1 wind.

"We had bad luck with the wind today, and we think it bumped a kid or two of ours out of the finals," Heimerman said. "A five-mile-per-hour wind is almost like a hurricane."

Kennedy Harrison punched his ticket to the 200 finals with a 21.08 in the prelims, finishing seventh.

A couple of other competitors just missed scoring points in their events.

Freshman pole vaulter Hayden Barrios placed ninth in his first outdoor championships with a 15-3.

Olivia Sipes finished ninth in the 800 preliminaries with a 2:17.90. Making the finals would have required a sub-PR performance as the cutoff was 2:16.62.