BATON ROUGE—A familiar city awaits the Northwestern State track teams as it heads toward the middle of the outdoor season.

NSU continues the outdoor season with a trip to the campus of LSU for Saturday's Battle on the Bayou at the Bernie Moore Track Stadium.

It is the second time in six weeks the Demons and Lady Demons have gone to LSU, having been there in the indoor season at the LSU Twilight in February.

The one-day meet begins at 9:45 am with the women's hammer throw. The running events start at 1:30 with the women's steeplechase and the meet will end around 5 p.m.

Djimon Gumbs has had a strong start to the outdoor season. He tossed a 205-11 in the discus at the Cowboy Relays, which broke his own school record by nearly 12 feet and helped him earn the Southland Conference Men's Field Athlete of the Week.

"It's huge for him and the university," head coach Mike Heimerman said. "It shows that everyone has paid attention to what he's done. He had two huge marks, so it just shows they have paid attention and are giving him credit for it."

That discus mark also shattered the Southland Conference record of 198-09 and broke the British Virgin Islands mark.

NSU changed its meet from originally competing at Prairie View A&M to LSU.

In the field on the women's side, Kaitlyn Washington has had a successful beginning to the outdoor season after not competing in the indoor season.

The freshman posted a 145-0 in her first meet at NSU, earning the top spot at the Cowboy Relays. She followed that up with a 141-5 at TCU.

On the track for the men's side, Austin Simoneaux is coming off a meet at the TCU Alumni Invite in which he posted two personal bests. He posted a 21.40 in the 200-meters and a 10.56 in the 100-meters, both of which were top-six finishes in the events in addition to being personal bests.

"Not that he wasn't putting in some great performances before, but Austin Simoneaux has really stepped up," Heimerman said. "He had some big personal bests at TCU, despite running in some cold weather. He's been very diligent throughout his career and he shows up every day and works hard and does all the right things."

Desmond Duncan has been another bright spot for the Demons on the track. The freshman is coming off his first outdoor meet as a collegiate in which he ran a 49.57 in the 400-meters, the best mark in the event by an NSU athlete so far this outdoor season.

Heimerman has been impressed by the progress Duncan has made since the start of the season.

"Desmond has had a really nice start to the season," Heimerman said. "Coach Adam (Pennington) saw some talent there and Desmond has put in the work and turned into quite a pleasant surprise. He has come in and done some big things and by the end of the year, he's going to be really good for us."
 
On the track on the women's side, Maygan Shaw has enjoyed a sensational sophomore campaign. After making her presence felt in a big way in her freshman season. Three of her four personal bests have been set this season and has won various events on four occasions, including in the 400-meters last meet at TCU where she ran a 54.71.

Of those four event wins, three have come in the 400-meters.

Shaw also was a member of the Lady Demons 4x100 team that finished in second at TCU with a time of 45.62.

In addition to NSU, fellow SLC institutions Nicholls, New Orleans and Southeastern Louisiana are participating in the meet, as well as South Alabama, Southern, UL Lafayette and UL Monroe.

Following the meet, the teams travel to Austin, Texas, for the Texas Relays, which begins Thursday.