AUSTIN, Texas – Northwestern State thrower Djimon Gumbs said he fed off the energy from the TCU Invitational crowd this past week to launch the discus a school record 183-11.

Gumbs and his Demons teammates will experience an even more raucous track atmosphere when they saddle up for the prestigious Texas Relays this week.

College action starts Thursday with the majority of NSU participants taking part Friday in an attempt to advance to Saturday's finals.

"The Texas Relays are definitely a measuring stick to see where we're at," said NSU track and field coach Mike Heimerman. "It comes a little early in the outdoor season, but we'll take the opportunity to compete against the best whenever it comes around.

"I thought we'd get a few more athletes in the meet, but the qualifications were so powerful and draws so many national competitors that we didn't get some events in that we normally would get. We'll also compete at Texas State down the road, so we're ready for a busy weekend."

Top programs from around the country flock to Austin each March for the Relays, and 21 NSU competitors will enter fray.

Gumbs was named the Southland Conference Field Athlete of the Week after his school record discus mark (20^th nationally) and a shot put mark (61-11) that ranks third nationally after the first full week of outdoor competition.

"From a technical standpoint, I didn't really have a good meet," Gumbs said. "But the energy of the audience on the last throw, I just bombed it, and luckily, it went far.

"I have a lot of work to do, but I feel good about it. I think the Texas Relays are going to be exciting, and it's going to be really good competition. We'll do better than we did last week, and we'll feed off the energy of our teammates and the crowd."

Gumbs will throw in the shot put with Tarajh Hudson taking part in the discus.

For Gumbs, it's a huge recovery from a disappointing Southland Conference Indoor Championships in which he recorded three fouls in the shot put as the event favorite, an event that his twin Diamante Gumbs won.

"I had a bad, bad experience at conference, but I'm starting to get over that," Djimon Gumbs said. "A personal record in my first meet says a lot to me, and I had to trust the coaching because I was really down.

"But I went with it and had fun with the guys last week. Four of our five guys hit personal records, so we had a really good start."

Heimerman commended Djimon Gumbs for his effort in the weeks since the SLC Indoors.

"I felt horrible about Indoor because I couldn't coach him to settle down and do the things he had been successful in doing," Heimerman said. "But he's come out and practiced hard on the things he needed to fix – so far so good.

"He's become a beast. He and Diamante are going to rewrite all the record books here."

The vast majority of other entries will be in sprints as the men's and women's 4x100 and 4x400 relays will compete

Sprinters who qualified as individuals include Lady Demons Taylor Shaw, Claudasha Watson, Lynell Washington and Demons Tre'Darius Carr, Javin Arrington, Kie'Ave Harry and Simon Wulff.

Hurdlers Janiel Moore, Orsciana Beard and Aliyah Carswell will suit up and will be joined by men's triple jumpers Nikaoli Williams and Andrew Gilreath.

Harry was the bronze medalist in the Southland Conference 100 meters this past season and has a pair of medals in the 60 meters individually.

Moore is a veteran hurdler that has captured SLC bronze in the 400 hurdles and silver in the 100 hurdles.

Williams had a breakout effort in the long jump at 24-7.25, which ranks 14^th nationally.

Myriad others will compete at Texas State in San Marcos, Texas.