BATON ROUGE—With many key contributors returning, the men's and women's track and field teams aim for another top finish in the Southland Conference, a season that begins with a trip to the state capital at the LSU Purple Tiger.

The one-day meet takes place Friday at the Carl Maddox Field House, beginning with the women's weight throw at 11 a.m. The running events start at 1 p.m. with the men's 60-meter hurdles.

Among the schools participating will be four fellow SLC schools—McNeese, New Orleans, Nicholls and Southeastern Louisiana.

"We are very excited to get back out there competing," head coach Mike Heimerman said. "We've been practicing for five months, so it will be fun to get to the first meet and knock some rust off.

"We're mostly worried about how our team performs and the main thing is getting out of the meet healthy."

The women's team captured the SLC indoor championship a year ago in Birmingham, Alabama, its first such team championship in program history. The title was locked up with a second-place finish in the 4x400 relay team.

All four sprinters who made up the quartet—Sian Weller, Sanaria Butler, Maygan Shaw and Vanessa Balde—are all back to try to lead the Lady Demons to a second consecutive team title.

Butler aims to build upon a stellar freshman campaign, one in which she broke the school record in the 400-meter dash and earned a spot at outdoor nationals.

Sprinter Lynell Washington earned the gold medal in the 60-meter dash in the indoor conference meet in 2023. She ran a 7.32 in the prelims and 7.39 in the finals to win the gold.

NSU's record-holding pole vaulter Annemarie Broussard is back for another year after her season was cut short a season ago due to injury.

"In order to get back to the same position we were in last year, we'll have to apply the same work ethic," Heimerman said. "Both genders will have to dig and fight for the title. I am confident we'll both be in a position to win the titles, so we'll have to go out and have great performances."

On the men's side, sprinter Zachaeus Beard is aiming to build upon a strong first season as a Demon. In year one, Beard garnered Second Team All-American recognition during the indoor season in the 60-meter dash. His time of 6.54 in last year's indoor opener carried him to nationals.

The men's throwers will once again led by the twins, seniors Djimon Gumbs and Diamante Gumbs.

Djimon Gumbs captured the gold medal in the shot put in last year's SLC Indoor championships, while Diamante Gumbs has medaled twice in each of the last two indoor championship meets, including a gold medal in the weight throw in 2022.

Like Broussard, talented pole vaulter Hayden Barrios on the men's side also had his season cut short due to injury.

While the veterans will lead the way for the Demons and Lady Demons, the newcomers are eager to show out and carry on the strong track tradition at NSU.

Oakland transfer Samari Finney will add to a talented sprints group. Finney grabbed four medals as a freshman with OU, including as a member of the 4x400 relay team during the outdoor season. During the indoor season, she collected the bronze in the 400-meter dash at the Horizon League Championships.

In addition to Finney, newcomers include Iowa Western CC transfer Shakera Williams, Iowa transfer Ianna Roach and Alabama State transfer Kahliyah Anderson.

On the men's side, the Demons will have to replace talented sprinters Destine-Unique Scott and Dylan Swain, but have returning talent to fill the void.

Among the Demon newcomers with a major chance to contribute include South Plains JC transfer Keontae Gaines, Northwest Kansas Tech transfer Jaysaun Smith and freshman Tim Pelkmans.

"I am really looking forward to seeing the newcomers out there," Heimerman said. "We return quite a bit, but we were also able to improve at spots we needed to and I think we're going to be better than last year."

Following the trip to Baton Rouge, the track and field teams are back in action at the Samford Invitational for a two-day meet, beginning Jan. 19 in Birmingham.