LUBBOCK, Texas—The much-anticipated Southland Conference championships are just around the corner, but first, there is one final tune-up prior to that meet.

In a two-day meet, the Northwestern State track and field teams travel to the campus of Texas Tech for the Corky/Crofoot Shootout.

The meet begins Friday at the Fuller Track and Field Complex.

Day one starts at noon with the men's javelin. The running events start at 7:30 p.m. and will go until around 11:30 p.m.

Saturday's running events are the distance competitions, beginning at 7:30 a.m., while the women's and men's triple jumps kick off the field events, starting at 11 a.m. Competition will wrap up around 5 p.m.

NSU is a regular to Texas Tech in the indoor season, but not so much during the outdoor schedule. The teams traveled to Lubbock again this indoor season.

"I am really looking forward to competing at Texas Tech," head coach Mike Heimerman said. "There is going to be some great competition and we are going to be just looking to improve in the events we are competing in.

"We continue to build heading into outdoor conference. All the athletes have been doing tremendously and I am just really looking forward to some great competition against some terrific athletes. Our training has been going great and mentally and physically, we are good."

One of those who has been building has been thrower Kaitlyn Washington, who tossed a personal best in the discus in Baton Rouge, breaking 170-0 for the first time with a 170-2.

Washington had not thrown a 160-0 and further in the discus until the Texas Relays and Bobcat Invitational. Now, she has done so in each of her last four meets, including her personal-best 170-2 at the LSU Alumni Gold. She broke her previous best distance of 169-2, which was set at the Bobcat Invitational last month.

Overall, NSU holds the conference's top spot in a dozen events, including all four in the discus and shot put.

After such a fantastic freshman season, many people wondered what Sanaria Butler would do for an encore.

All she is done is seemingly break a school or conference record….or both, every meet. Last time out, it happened to be both, as she sprinted to an impressive time of 52.11 in the 400-meter dash at the LSU Alumni Gold.

That not only is the top mark in the SLC, but also the 22^nd best time nationally, the fourth-best time among non-power conference schools.

In the trip to Lubbock in the indoor season, Butler continued her season with another statement, running a 52.92 in the 400-meter dash, which broke the SLC record previously held by former NSU sprinter  Natashia Jackson.

Fellow sprinter Keontae Gaines ran a 10.22 in Baton Rouge, tied for the second-fastest run in the 100-meter dash in the SLC this outdoor season.

Like Butler, Gaines also enjoyed a terrific visit to Lubbock in February.

In the 60-meter dash, Gaines ran a 6.68 in the prelims to finish seventh out of 22 contestants.

If that weren't enough, he bested that mark in the finals, racing to a 6.62 to grab sixth in the event.

That time is the third-best in school history and top time by someone other than Zachaeus Beard.

After two weeks off, the teams head to Houston on the campus of Rice for the SLC Outdoor Championships, beginning May 9, as the teams aim to finish on top after both coming in second in 2023.