BIRMINGHAM, Alabama—"Silver and gold. Silver and gold. Everyone wishes for silver and gold."

Madison Brown formed a terrific duo in the women's pole vault with the now-graduated Annemarie Broussard.

While Broussard may be gone, she didn't have to wait long—or look far—to find a new pole vaulter to form a new dynamic duo in the event.

Brown and junior Peyten Ware posted a 1-2 finish in the event, highlighting the first day of the Southland Conference Indoor Championships on Sunday at the Birmingham CrossPlex.

Brown, a senior from Natchitoches, takes the gold after earning the bronze in the 2024 conference indoor meet. She cleared a season-best 13-1.5. Brown was the favorite in the event, so her winning the gold isn't a surprise.

What might have been a surprise—to outsiders at least—is who grabbed the silver.

Ware, a junior from Springhill, continued her strong stretch with another terrific day. Last meet, she cleared a personal-best 12-0. This time around, she cleared 11-9.75 to finish with the silver.

Going in, Ware had the fourth-best clearance in the league, but remained composed when the lights were the brightest, clearing each of the first six bars on the first attempt.

Overall, the women, going for three in a row, has 33 points and in third place. Lamar is in first with 51 points. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi is in second with 37.

The Northwestern State men are in fourth place with 24 points. UIW is out in front with 48 points.

Brown wasn't done, either, as she went over to the 60-meter hurdles and advanced to the finals with a personal-best 8.72.

She was one of five who clocked a personal best in the event, led by Dynia Lewis, who won the event with an 8.42, which tied a personal best.

Joining Lewis and Brown in the finals is Raven-Symone Jarrett, who ran an 8.66 to place seventh, as the top eight finishers advance to Monday's finals.

Silet Gray (8.89) nearly earned a trip to the finals, finishing 10^th, and Jessica Pitcher (9.42) placed 20^th.

Lewis also made the finals in the 60-meter dash, placing seventh with a time of 7.57. Joining her is Sileena Farrell, who clocked a personal-best 7.44 to place second in the prelims. Victoria Byrd ran a season-best 7.69 to place 14^th.

On the men's side, Tavis Wilson and Tajae Francis both made the finals in the men's 60-meter dash. Wilson ran a 6.78 to place third while Francis ran a 6.81 to finish eighth.

The sprint teams have been the bread-and-butter for Northwestern State for years, and no one on the team better exemplifies that than Maygan Shaw.

The senior from Pineville won the prelims in both the 200 and 400. In her main event, the 400-meter dash, a whopping five Lady Demons moved onto the finals.

Shaw ran a 54.28 to win the event with Margaret Conteh (54.91) placing fourth and Samari Finney ran a personal-best 55.09 to place fifth. Rounding out the finals qualifiers for Northwestern State is Tranasia Jones (55.75), who placed seventh, and Kahliyah Anderson (55.88) finished eighth in the prelims.

Jayla Mason narrowly missed out, placing 10^th with a time of 56.34.

Shaw clocked a 23.83 to finish first in the women's 200, the only member of the Lady Demons to advance to Monday's finals. Conteh (24.67) and Lewis (24.82) nearly made it in, though. Silet Gray ran a personal-best 25.83.

On the men's side, William Achee (48.05) and Vincente Graiani (48.05) place fifth and sixth, respectively, to advance to the finals in the 400.

Galen Loyd (48.26) and Kason Jones (48.48) nearly advanced, placing 10^th and 12^th, respectively.

Elijah Rowe advanced to the finals in the men's 200, clocking a 21.56, to place eighth. Once again, Jones nearly advanced, running a personal-best 21.64 to finish ninth. Mikkel Johansson, in his first meet of the season, ran a 21.67 and Achee clocked a 21.73, as the Demons placed eighth through 11^th.

Desmond Duncan (22.16) and Francis (22.71) each ran an indoor best in the event.

Wrapping up the day, the quartet of Korbin Shumate, Robert Norton, John Klein and Duncan ran a 10:22.22 in the men's distance medley relay, the third best time in program history.

Evan Wilson clocked an indoor best 2:03.21 in the men's 800-meter run.

Back in the field, a pair of Demons found the podium in the men's long jump, led by Rowe.

Rowe cleared a personal-best 24-9 to earn the silver while teammate Roy Morris also posted a personal-best, jumping 24-6 to capture the bronze.

On the women's side, Jaslyn Smith nearly reached the podium, finishing fourth with an indoor best of 19-1.25. Victoria Byrd also earned points, placing eighth to earn a point with a jump of a season-best 18-7.75.

Maxwell Gautreau cleared 15-3 to place sixth in the men's pole vault and Kareem Nazim nearly scored points, finishing ninth with a distance of 14-11.

Randy Kelly narrowly missed out on the podium in the men's high jump, clearing 6-10.25 to finish fourth.

In a loaded field in the men's weight throw, Abner Johnson (58-4.75) and Justin Craft (57-7) posted personal bests, but only Johnson earned points, finishing seventh while Craft placed ninth. Tarajh Hudson finished 10^th with a season-best toss of 55-0.75.

To begin the day, Raven-Symone Jarrett (3664) placed fifth in the women's pentathlon. In the meet, she tied a personal best in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.67 and ran a season-best 2:26.67 to place sixth in the event.

Cherie Neal (3080) placed 15^th but finished with a personal best in the long jump with a distance of 17-8.25 and a season-best 2:47.35 in the 800-meter run.

On the men's side in the heptathlon, there are three events remaining Monday, but both Bruce Boon and Tim Pelkmans are in the top five after four events.

Boon, a freshman, has scored 2858 points to place fourth and Pelkmans is right behind him with 2859 points to place fifth.

The conference meet concludes Monday, as the women aim to make it a three-peat and the men aim to break through and win it after being so close in recent years. The men's heptathlon kicks the day off at 9 a.m.