HUMBLE, Texas – The Northwestern State men checked nearly every box off their track and field championship to-do list to compete for a Southland Conference Outdoor Championship title Sunday.

Hayden Barrios vaulted to a title, the Demons swept the discus podium and the early individual sprints went according to plan.

But NSU couldn't have anticipated being disqualified in the men's 4x100 relay because of an out-of-zone handoff, a 12-point swing that cost the Demons a gold medal and bumped Incarnate Word up to silver in the event.

The Cardinals (157 points) built an insurmountable lead as the Demons (133 points) finished second overall, the program's best finish since winning the SLC title in 2002.

"It was great day, even though we had a couple of mishaps," said NSU coach Mike Heimerman. "It was a long weekend, but we gave it everything we had.

"This (runners-up) trophy is our first since 2002, and I'm very proud of this team. Coming home with a lot of individual hardware, and this runners-up trophy is still pretty special, too."

The Lady Demons collected their 12^th straight top-three finish with a third place. NSU's 124 points trailed champion McNeese (189) and second-place UIW (159).

Sophomore thrower Djimon Gumbs captured the male's highest individual honor as the Most Valuable Player, scoring a total of 24 points.

Gumbs captured gold medals in the discus (178 feet) Sunday and in the shot put Saturday after picking up four points in the javelin, and event in which he's never comped in at the Division I level.

Twin Diamante Gumbs snagged silvers in the discus (176-11) and shot put while Tarajh Hudson (176-9) made it an NSU discus sweep with a bronze.

"I was a little nervous, but I had some awesome teammates and even some awesome competitors, and it was an enjoyable environment," Djimon Gumbs said. "I was a little banged up as everybody is, we all came together. I was honestly surprised to get this honor. To have teammates on the podium with me meant so much because these guys work so hard, maybe even harder than I do."

Perhaps the most impressive feat came from sprinter Lynell Washington, who snatched both the 100 and 200 meters titles after starting the day with an incredible comeback anchor leg on the 4x100 relay.

Washington lifted the 4x100 relay to gold as she tracked down the McNeese anchor leg, who had at least a five-meter head start with the baton.

"I just told my teammates to give me the stick, and let me do the work," said Washington, who won her first outdoor medals after the 2020 outdoor season was canceled because of COVID-19 and injury slowed her in 2021. "That's what happened, I went and got her.

"Everything went right today, and I wanted to give a special Mother's Day gift to my mama, something she'd never forget. I wanted to come out here and win."

Washington led the quartet of Claudasha Watson, Taylor Shaw and Aliyah Carswell in a 45.97 time, edging McNeese by .04 seconds.

In the 100 meters, Washington turned in a personal record of 11.44 and fended off a challenge from Texas A&M-Corpus Christi's Capri Wilson (11.50). The time was third-best in NSU history. Janiel Moore took fourth (PR 11.77) and Taylor Shaw added a sixth-place finish (11.89).

Washington led wire to wire in the 200 meters to clock a 23.94, leading another Demon trio with Maygan Shaw (sixth, 24.73) and Taylor Shaw (eighth, 25.78).

In the men's sprints, Destine Scott reigned supreme with a 400 meters gold and a 200 meters silver.

Scott strengthened his NCAA East Regionals case with a personal best 46.38 to top a strong field by nearly half a second, which also ranked third in NSU history. Ebenezer Aggrey (fifth, 48.16) and Junior Charles (seventh, 48.73) added six more points.

He dipped in front of UNO's Elliott Cummings in the 200 meters to claim silver with a personal record 20.82. In another event finals that featured three Demons, Dylan Swain (21.74, seventh) and Simon Wulff (22.86, eighth) added three points.

Scott ran the anchor leg of the 4x400 relay, which finished in 3:12.10 with Charles, Aggrey and Galen Loyd.

The women claimed 4x400 gold as the Lady Demons didn't sweat with a three-second win, clocking a season-best 3:44.63 with Erin Wilson, Janiel Moore, Taylor Shaw and Maygan Shaw on the relay.

Maygan Shaw nearly repeated as 400 meters champion, building a sizable lead only to be edged at the tape by .03 seconds (55.13). Erin Wilson pushed for a fourth-place finish with personal best 56.48.

Kie'Ave Harry might have put together the most impressive single race of an NSU sprinter Sunday. He blazed a personal record 10.10 in the 100 meters, but UNO's Ismael Kone ran one of the nation's best times at 9.94. Nikaoli Williams, who won triple jump gold and long jump silver, finished seventh (10.41) with Wulff running a 10.52 in eighth.

Tre'Darius Carr joined Wulff, Harry and Swain on the 4x100 relay that was disqualified after Swain held off UNO on the final leg.

"We'll own our 4x100 relay being disqualified, but there should have been some other teams disqualified as well," Heimerman said. "With it being earlier in the day, it affected us a little, but we had a few other things that happened as well."

NSU might have faced a few obstacles Sunday, but hurdles weren't one of them.

Janiel Moore cruised to a 400 hurdles gold medal with a personal record 59.81.

In the 100 hurdles, Aliyah Carswell and Orsciana Beard finished strong to place sixth (14.02) and seventh (14.25), respectively.

A high pole vault bar didn't bother the Demons either as Hayden Barrios cleared a personal best 16-4.75, skying over every bar he cleared on his first attempt to edge UIW's Isaiah Hudgens.

In the only women's field event Sunday involving NSU, Olivia Valliere tallied a point in the discus with a throw of 122 feet to finish eighth.