BATON ROUGE/NACOGDOCHES, Texas – Northwestern State sprints aimed to prove they belong on the national stage, battling major track powers like LSU, Houston, Kentucky and Ohio State among others Saturday at LSU's Joe May Invitational.

The Demons clad in white sped the relay stick around lane eight in the 4x100, finishing with a 39.35, just hundredths of a second off winner Houston (39.33) and Kentucky (39.34).

The foursome of Evan Nafe, Simon Wulff, Kie'Ave Harry and Tre'Darius Carr did beat the likes of LSU, Ohio State in Alabama with NSU's fifth-fastest time in program history.

"We had a decent lead into the final leg and (Carr) slipped a little, but it was a close race," said NSU sprints coach Adam Pennington. "To compete with some of the best teams in the country, go line to line with them, that's impressive.

"To run in the 39.3s this early in the season, it puts a stamp on where we are at and what we can do. We haven't really put an 'A' team together as this is the first time these four guys have run together."

Harry appeared like he would run away with his 100 meters heat, but the field caught him in the final 20 meters as he finished with a 10.23. The senior finished fourth in his heat and fifth overall.

"At 70 meters, it didn't look like anybody was going to catch him," Pennington said. "He hasn't quite figured out what to do when he gets that far out in front, and he didn't use his arms and kind of sat down at the end.

"But he's continuing to drop his time every week from 10.4 to 10.3 and now close to 10.2. We're still transitioning out of running 60 meters from indoors, but I think he's turned the corner."

In the 200 meters, Wulff (21.30) and Carr (21.36) finished 10^th and 11^th, respectively, running into a headwind.

Junior Charles logged a personal record 48.32 in the 400 to place 17^th, just a few spots behind Destine Scott (47.83, 14^th).

The 4x400 with Charles, Scott, Galen Loyd and Ebenezer Aggrey finished seventh with a 3:12.84.

NSU produces high marks at SFA

The majority of the Demons and Lady Demons headed west to Stephen F. Austin's Carl Kight Invitational and produced high marks.

"Overall we had some good performances as folks are meeting expectations for where they are in the training cycle," said NSU coach Mike Heimerman. "Taylor Shaw did a phenomenal job stepping in on the 4x400 relay, which is not her forte.

"We ran some exceptional legs on that relay, and it was great to clock a 3:46."

The women's 4x400 relay obliterated the field by 15 seconds as the foursome of Maygan Shaw, Janiel Moore, Erin Wilson and Taylor Shaw clocked a season-best 3:46.39.

The quartet had positive showings in their individual events as well.

Maygan Shaw won the 400 meters by lowering her personal best to 55.08 while Wilson clocked a season-low 56.56.

"We were very good in the open 400 as well with Maygan running a PR and Erin nearly having a PR," Heimerman said.

Moore finished second in the 400 hurdles with a 1:02.05. Aliyah Carswell clocked a personal record in the 100 hurdles with a 13.99 to place fourth in the finals.

"Aliyah has been right there, so it's great to see her break through the 14-second mark with a great run today," Heimerman said.
Taylor Shaw snatched a leg of the 4x100 to help NSU place third with a season-best 46.15. Shaw ran the second leg as the relay started with Claudasha Watson and finished with Aarika Lister and Lynell Washington.

NSU shined in the field as well.

Diamante Gumbs captured the shot put title Friday with a 50-10.75 followed by third-place Tarajh Hudson (50-5).

Gumbs followed his winning effort with a second-place display in the hammer, tossing it 167-3.

Hudson edged his teammate in the discus, winning the event with a 177-2 throw with Gumbs in second (176-10).

"We did well in the throws again, especially Hudson who had a big PR in the discus (by 14 feet)," Heimerman said. "He had been showing it in practice, and it came through for him today."

Carnitra Mackey also posted a major personal record with a 138-11.25, besting her previous mark by more than 20 feet. Mackey finished fourth followed by sixth-place Ashley Duffus (130-11.75), eighth-place Abby McCain (111) and ninth-place Akira Phillip (108-10.75).

"Mackey had thrown the javelin a little bit in the Bahamas before coming in this season, and we've worked with her," Heimerman said. "She threw 139 on a very short approach, so we'll definitely increase her time in this event. The wind conditions weren't great today, so it's even more impressive."

Mackey added a 10^th-place showing in the shot put with a 40-1. Olivia Valliere was the top Lady Demon, placing seventh with a 41-3.

Three Lady Demons finished in top five in the pole vault. Annemarie Broussard cleared 12-11.50 to finish third with Madison Brown and Parish Kitto topping 11-11.75.

Jaslyn Smith and Orsciana Beard each logged personal records in the long jump. Smith leapt 18-2 to place seventh while Beard jumped 17-0.75 to finish ninth.

In the men's 100 meters, Kavacion Webster lowered his best to 10.65 to place fourth while Javin Arrington, Austin Simoneaux and William Glover finished 13^th-15^th in the 10.76-79 range.

Simoneaux clocked a personal best 21.81 in the 200 meters to finish 10^th.

In the women's 1500 meters, Elyse Jacobs posted a personal record 2:24.50 to place 14^th.

In his first 1500 meters race of the season, Beau Melancon clocked a 4:12.69 to finish 16^th.