NATCHITOCHES – Northwestern State jumper Nikaoli Williams picked up where he left off last year.

In his first triple jump event in more than a month, Williams tied then surpassed his personal best with a 50-8.25 to finish fourth in the Texas Relay Section B finals.

Fellow jumper Andrew Gilreath also crossed the 50-foot mark, placing sixth with a 50-3.5.

"Both of those guys had good days, and I think overall just about everybody had a pretty good day," said NSU coach Mike Heimerman. "Nikaoli is coming into his own on a lot fronts, and he keeps getting better.

"Texas Relays is a measuring stick overall, and even though we're not where we want to be, we know where we stand and we're continuing to grow."

Lynell Washington hasn't run many healthy 100 meter races, but she showed she can be an elite sprinter on a national level Friday.

Washington blazed a personal best 11.47 in the timed final (second grouping), which would have been fast enough to make the first grouping finals (11.51). Washington placed second overall in the second grouping.

"Lynell had one of the more impressive showings of the day, and she actually thought she had finished the race a few meters early," Heimerman said. "She could have run in the 11.3s."

Other Lady Demons to compete include Aarika Lister (11.82, 19^th overall), Claudasha Watson (12.04, 32^nd) and Taylor Shaw (12.09 (36^th).

Demon counterpart Kie'Ave Harry did compete in the first grouping, clocking a 10.47to place sixth in his heat and 25^th overall.

The rest of NSU's sprinters ran in a timed final (second grouping) with Simon Wulff posting the best NSU time of the day at 10.46, placing second in his heat and 21^st overall.

Tre'Darius Carr (10.65) placed 58^th and Javin Arrington (10.88) came in 83^rd.

Aliyah Carswell and Orsciana Beard each ran personal bests in the 100 meter hurdles with Carswell clocking a 14.32 to win her heat and Beard a 14.57 to place second in her heat. Carswell finished 15^th overall with Beard checking in at 29^th in a 51-runner field.

Djimon Gumbs placed fourth in the Section B shot put with a 57-9 mark. He achieved that distance on his opening throw, fouling in three of his next five attempts.

Tarajh Hudson improved his discus mark from Thursday by about 18 inches (158-7), but he finished 10^th and didn't advance to the final three throws in Section B.

The men's 4x400 relay shaved three seconds off this past week's time to post a 3:10.24, placing 18^th overall.

The women's 4x100 relay clocked a 46.92 to finish fifth in its heat and 23^rd overall.

The women's 4x400 relay finished 22^nd overall with a 3:50.02.
 
NSU stands out at Texas State Bobcat Invitational

A handful of NSU athletes trekked down to San Marcos to compete at Texas State.

Annemarie Broussard set a new outdoor personal record with a 13-3.5, tying NSU's third-best mark all-time.

Madison Brown neared her personal best at 12-3.5 (18^th) while Karlyn Trahan and Parish Kitto each cleared 11-4.

Four Demons competed in the 200 meters led by Evan Nafe, who finished fourth with a 21.49.

Tre'Darius Carr (21.98, 20^th), Javin Arrington (22.52, 39^th) and Ebenezer Aggrey (22.94, 45^th) also competed.

The Demons and Lady Demons have a full slate at Texas State on Saturday with a sprinkling of athletes on the Texas Relay slate.

The men's 4x100 will compete at Texas Relays while many of NSU's other sprinters will head down to San Marcos.