LAKE CHARLES—The Northwestern State throwers excelled in its first outdoor meet of the season at the Cowboy Relays on Saturday on the campus of McNeese.

Diamante Gumbs finished in the top two in both events he competed in, leading nine top three finishers for the throwers, completing a successful day of throws for the Gumbs family.

"It was a mixed bag of performances in the first outdoor meet," jumps and multis coach Lon Badeaux said. "The windy and cold conditions made it really difficult on everyone. Diamante did well in this meet. Being an upper classman, he was a little more seasoned to sometimes difficult outdoor conditions."

On his last throw in the men's discus, he dominated the competition, cementing his first-place finish with a throw of 172-10. Teammate Tarajh Hudson tossed a 163-0 to finish second, also on his last throw.

In his first career collegiate meet, Seth Smith recorded a 135-0 to finish sixth out of the 14 participants.

The discus wasn't the only event Gumbs competed well in, also placing second in the hammer with a throw of 176-2.

Justin Craft recorded a personal-best 134-9 to finish seventh.

In addition to his personal best in the discus, he also tossed a 40=11.75 to finish third out of 14 competitors in the men's shot put.

Coming off his impressive performance at the Southland Conference Indoor Championships, Tim Pelkmans placed eighth, recording a 39-8.5.

On the women's side, five different throwers placed in the top three in various events.

Fresh off her gold medal at the SLC Indoor Championships, Carnitra Mackey places second out of 18 competitors with a throw of 44-4.25.

Shakera Williams finished right behind her in third, recording a 43-11.25.

Another Shakera, Shakera Kirk, placed third in the women's discus, tossing a 142-7.

Kirk was the second-highest finishing Lady Demon in that event, placing right behind second-place Kaitlyn Washington, who posted a personal-best throw of 151-9.

Bernesha Knowles finished third out of 15 in the women's hammer, tossing a 165-4.

A pair of personal bests were set in the javelin, as Abria Paul (107-2) and Raven-Symone Jarrett (83-3) each posted PRs, placing eighth and 10^th, respectively. Ashley Duffus' 120-5 finished seventh.

Joseph Yount recorded a fifth-place finish, posting a distance of 163-1, in his first ever collegiate meet.

Badeaux was pleased with the newcomers, but knows it is all about improvement now that they have gotten their feet wet in a collegiate meet.

"I thought the newcomers did fine," Badeaux said. "But like almost all newcomers, they found out really quick that this is a different level of competition and now they know where they need to go."

In the distance running events, John Klein led three NSU runners in the men's 1500. He ran an NSU-best 4:14.85 to earn a fourth-place finish.

Brian Norton ran a 4:16.40 to place sixth and Korbin Shumate ran a 4:22.63 to finish seventh.

On the women's side, Lalaina Wood ran a 5:30.93 in the 1500 to finish 12^th.

Coming off her terrific showing in the SLC Indoor Championships, Jarrett cleared 5-1 in the women's high jump, which was good for a third-place finish in the event.

Next, the track and field teams head to Lafayette for the Louisiana Classics, beginning Friday.