WACO, Texas—Three strong showings from the Northwestern State relay teams highlighted the second and final day of competition from the Northwestern State track and field teams at the Michael Johnson Invitational on the campus of Baylor.

Both of the men's relay teams posted season bests and all three finished in the top three of their events.

To begin their day, the men's 4x100 quartet of Galen Loyd, Mikkel Johansson, Elijah Rowe and Tavis Wilson clocked a 39.74 to place third and beat their previous season best of 39.74, which was set at the Leon Johnson NSU Invitational last week.

Just as they started the day with a season best, they finished the same way. The group of Loyd, Rowe, Vincente Graiani and William Achee ran a 3:09.70 in the 4x400 relay to finish second in the relay.

The women's 4x400 relay also finished second, as the quartet of Maygan Shaw, Tranasia Jones, Samari Finney and Margaret Conteh ran a 3:36.49.

"The relays ran very, very well with the weather conditions very windy," head coach Mike Heimerman said. "Those four ran very well and ran with some guys that or some team some schools that have run super fast and beat a few of them. Very good for those guys."

Wilson posted a strong day, finishing fifth out of 65 in the men's 100-meter dash. Rowe placed 22^nd with a time of 10.63 and Johansson came in 27^th, running a 10.71.

On the women's side in the 100, Sileena Farrell continued her strong season with an 11.90 to finish 23^rd out of 68 competitors. Jaslyn Smith ran a 12.15 to finish 36^th and Dynia Lewis ran a 12.24 to place 43^rd.

Lewis had a strong performance once again in the women's 100-meter hurdles, as she (13.80) and Raven-Symone Jarrett (14.02) each qualified for the finale, finishing in the top nine. Silet Gray (14.80) placed 22^nd out of 42 and Cherie Neal (15.36) finished 31^st.

In the finals, Jarrett ran a personal-best 13.68 to place fourth and Lewis clocked a 13.71 to finish fifth.

"Raven had a phenomenal day in the hurdles," Heimerman said, "That was great for her and I'm so happy for her. She's been working very hard every day, so it is great to see her hard work pay off."
Running unattached, John Klein placed fourth in the men's 3000-meter steeplechase, clocking a 9:38.79.

In the throws, Teodora Samac led the charge for Northwestern State in the women's pole vault, placing sixth with a toss of 135-04. Mikayla Mondello (119-0) and Neal (109-08) each posted season bests, placing 13^th and 17^th, respectively.

On the men's side, Joseph Young (177-07) placed 10^th with freshmen Maddon Reine (167-10) and Bruce Boon (149-05) placing 13^th and 14^th.

Finishing in the top three in the event were Chinecherem Prosper Nnamdi (253-01), James McNaney (242-04) and LeBron James (229-04).

Shakera Williams (44-8.75) placed 13^th in the women's shot put to lead the Lady Demons. Ryah Dates (44-7.5) finished right behind her teammate in 14^th. Carnitra Mackey (43-3.25) placed 17^th.
On the men's side, Abner Johnson placed 14^th with a toss of 52-7.25. Justin Craft (50-9) placed 21^st.

In the jumps, coming off his personal best performance at the home meet, Randy Kelly placed 12^th out of 23 with a clearance of 6-8.25. On the women's side, Jarrett finished 15^th, clearing 5-4.25.
At the women's triple jump, Smith finished 11^th out of 20 with a jump of 39-10.75.

"I was very pleased with the entire team because it was brutal wind conditions both days. It was not set up for a conducive for running, but you know they did it and they battled it. It was just one of those things that you go places to try to catch some wind and it worked against us, but you know, other than that, I was very happy with everybody's efforts. We got to go back to the drawing board on a few things or maybe just go tweak some stuff but we'll get better and we'll get back after It."

Northwestern State hits the track for competition April 26 when they head to the state's capital city for the LSU Alumni Gold.