SAN MARCOS, Texas—Sanaria Butler has been known for her speed on the track, but she proved once again she is one of the best jumpers in the Southland Conference as well.

Fresh off a SLC weekly award selection, Butler, the SLC Women's Indoor Field Athlete of the Year, jumped a personal-best 20-5.25 in the women's long jump to win the event on the first day of the Bobcat Invitational.

Butler wasn't the only NSU athlete to post a PR in the women's long jump, as Samari Finney (20-3) and Victoria Byrd (18-8.75)  joined Butler in that regard, placing third and eighth, respectively.

Madison Brown added a personal best in the pole vault, clearing 12-8.75 to tie for second. Annemarie Broussard tied seventh in the event, clearing 12-2.75.

"It was a very solid day," head coach Mike Heimerman said. We had a number of athletes score personal bests, which was great to see. Everyone competed very well and their performances reflect
that. It was really good to see the multis have a great day and Raven-Symone (Jarrett) and Tim (Pelkmans) put themselves in a great position going into tomorrow.

"I am very happy with the way we started this weekend and looking forward to more great performances."

On the men's side in the pole vault, Hayden Barrios cleared 15-5.75 to tie for 14^th.

Randy Kelly posted a jump of 23-0 in the long jump, narrowly missing the finals, finishing in 10^th place.

In the throws, Shakera Kirk made her presence known with a second-place finish, throwing a season-best 155-0 in the women's discus.

Tahisha Thompson tossed a 126-11 to place 18^th and Bernesha Knowles recorded a season-best 120-10 to place 26^th.

Kaitlyn Washington obliterated her personal best in the women's discus, recording a 169-2, more than 10 feet better than her previous best, to finish third.

Washington is only the fourth different NSU woman to throw a 165-0 in the discus.

On the men's side in the discus, three finished in the top 12, led by Djimon Gumbs' season-best 185-05 to place fourth.

Twin brother Diamante Gumbs (183-07) came in sixth and Tarajh Hudson (170-01) finished 12^th to round out the Demons.

In the multis, Tim Pelkmans posted personal bests in both the long jump (23-1.25) and shot put (41-6) and finished second in the 400-meter dash (49.42) to help him to fourth place in the decathlon after one day.

Raven-Symone Jarrett is in seventh place after day one in the women's heptathlon. She did posted a personal best in the 200-meter dash (25.60) and season-bests in the high jump (5-7) and shot put (32-5.75).

On the track, Brian Norton clocked a personal-best 1:54.93 in the men's 800-meter run to place 25^th out of 58 finishers.

John Klein also added a personal best, running a 9:43.26 in the men's steeplechase to place sixth out of 15 runners.

The teams are back at it for the second day of three in the meets Friday. The men's discus kicks things off at the Texas Relays, while the men's 110m decathlon hurdles start the meet at 9:30 at the Bobcat Invitational.