EUGENE, Oregon—Chemistry.

It is the one word that is universally brought up when describing what makes a great relay team.

It comes as no surprise that the Northwestern State 4x100 men's and 4x400 women's relay teams used basically the same group throughout the whole season.

Chemistry is also a huge reason why those relay teams head to Oregon for the NCAA Championships, beginning Wednesday on the campus of the University of Oregon.

"Chemistry makes a real great relay team," associate head coach Adam Pennington said. "Of course, it helps when everyone runs fast at the right time. But chemistry is huge. When you have four or five girls, which we have had all year to run the relays and we can interchange however we want them, it makes it a lot easier. I still think we are as good with any of the five.

On the men's side, it's the same thing. We have stuck with same four guys and went through our ups and downs and when you do that, you start to build some pretty good chemistry and that culture and chemistry is huge when it comes to relays because everybody has to be on the same page at the same time, which is really important."

The men's semifinal relay is Wednesday with the final Friday, while the women's are on Thursday and Saturday.

The two relay teams are part of a group from NSU traveling to Oregon that also includes a pair of athletes in individual events, which includes Zachaeus Beard (100-meter dash), who is one of the men's 4x100 relay runners.

Diamante Gumbs is the other, who is going to Oregon in the men's discus.

During the NCAA East Regionals last month in Lexington, Kentucky, both teams used season bests to punch their tickets to nationals. In the women's case, they broke the program and Southland Conference record—again.

To finish the meet, the women clocked a blazing 3:29.22 to finish second in its heat and fifth overall to join the men's 100-relay team at nationals in the Beaver State.

The quartet of Sanaria Butler, Maygan Shaw, Vanessa Balde and Tranasia Jones, has broken the school record multiple times, but this one was nearly three and a half seconds better than its previous best, a 3:32.67 mark at the Texas Relays.

The first three in the group have worked together the past two seasons, which has helped develop tremendous chemistry that helps when on the track.

"Maygan, Vanessa and I have been together for two years now, so being with them in every relay over those two years explains why our chemistry is so good," Butler said.

That time put NSU in the top 30 among women's 4x400 relay teams in NCAA history and if they had matched their time from the Texas Relays at the regional finals, the Lady Demon quartet is not heading to Oregon.

The women drew even more confidence after watching the men's 4x100 relay team punch its ticket to Oregon the previous day.

The group of Beard, Cyrus Jacobs, Keontae Gaines and Mikkel Johansson clocked a blazing 39.28 in Kentucky, defeating its previous best of 39.42 this season.

That same four has been together much of the year, which Johansson echoed Pennington regarding chemistry being a huge factor in their success.

"It definitely is nice having the same guys running together most of the year," Johansson said. "Having those same guys doing the relay throughout the year has helped a lot. I feel so comfortable now with Keontae handing off to me and I know Cyrus and Zach have a good connection as well, so really we trust each other so much we can afford to take bigger risks to try to get a better spot for us."

In the regionals, the team finished in fifth of the heat, behind four SEC schools.

NSU's two relay teams heading to nationals matches the two relay teams sent to nationals in 2018.

The men sprinted its way to a seventh-place finish at nationals in 2018, running a 39.63, while the women's 4x100 team clocked a 44.98 to place 15^th.

While each team is different, Pennington sees many similarities between the two seasons.

"The relay teams from 2018 that made it to nationals and these two are very similar," he said. "To have those type of athletes competing at a high level at the right time is always fun, but the similarities are just the want and we have a lot of kids who have bought in. When you have great athletes around you and when you surround yourself with people with the same wants as you and the same ability as you and a system that works pretty well, it leads to big things."

It has been a tremendous year for sprinters at NSU, and they have a chance to make some history and put their names even further in the record book.

Both relay teams had high expectations going into the season and have not disappointed. They have the opportunity to compete for a national championship, right like they wanted prior to the season.

With both teams having key returners on their relay teams back from a season ago, chemistry is a huge reason why both teams are on the brink of school history.