HOUSTON—There has not been a run quite like the one the Northwestern State women's track and field program is on.

The Lady Demons have won four of the past five Southland Conference championships and the last three overall, including the indoor title earlier this season with a 4x400 relay victory that clinched its third straight team indoor title.

They also proved they can win the outdoor as well, as the reigning outdoor champs go for two in a row and the men aim to win its first one since 2002, as they head to the campus of Rice for the SLC Championships.

The three-day meet begins Thursday at Holloway Field. The first day will not be televised, but the final two days can be streamed on ESPN+.

"We're feeling pretty good," head coach Mike Heimerman said. "We are fairly optimistic on a lot of stuff and we're pretty healthy. A few athletes are dealing with a few things, but when it comes to go time, we'll be ready.

The multi-events kick the conference meet off with the men's 100-meter dash at 12:30 p.m., while the men's hammer throw is the first field event at 2 p.m. and the running events begin at 5 p.m.

"Going four-for-four in championships would be great," Kahliyah Anderson said. "As a transfer student, none of my other schools have really won as much as we do. I think we can do it and have confidence we will do it."

Northwestern State has the conference's top mark in eight events going into the outdoor meet, led by senior Maygan Shaw, who leads in two individual events as well as being a part of the 4x400 relay team.

Shaw, who has won the conference outdoor track performer of the week on three occasions this season, has put together one of the finest seasons a sprinter has put together at Northwestern State.

In her final season, the Pineville native has broken and re-broken the 400 record multiple times, including shattering her own personal best, school record and SLC mark at the LSU Alumni Gold, where she ran a 51.19, beating the previous best by more than a half-second.

She aims to cement her place in SLC lore, as she leads the league in three events and is second in two others.

Earlier this season in the indoor conference championships, Shaw found the podium in all three events she participated in, winning gold in two of them, including her main event, the 400.

Also competing in his final SLC meet is men's sprinter Galen Loyd, who won gold as a member of the 4x400 relay team at the indoor conference meet.

The outdoor season brought more good fortune for the senior from Colfax, as he was a part of the 4x400 relay team that broke the school record at the LSU Alumni Gold, running a 3:06.06, which leads the conference by more than three and a half seconds.

He is also fifth in the 400 with a time of 46.94, which he ran at the Lurline Hamilton Invitational back in March.

"We're well spread out on the men's side," Heimerman said. "What we missed in the indoor is having one or two guys step up. We have a couple guys who can step up, but now they need to do it. We'll need someone to score 16-to-22 points and we have one or two guys who can do that. Now, they just need to do that."

A total of 19 seniors are competing in the meet, including 12 on the women's side. Of those 12, seven have not known anything but winning during their time as a Lady Demon, collecting three consecutive team titles since the 2024 indoor season.

Among those is Kahliyah Anderson, who has set five personal bests this season, including three during her outdoor campaign.

She currently ranks seventh in the 400-meter hurdles in the Southland, which she set at LSU on April 26, running a 1:02.27. Anderson is just outside the top 10 in the 400-meter dash, as six Lady Demons rank in the top 11 of the event.

"We wanted to have depth for the relays and we have that," Heimerman said. "They are really talented young women and five of them made the finals in the indoor 400, which is really hard to do when there are only eight spots. I'll give Coach (Adam) Pennington credit with these women going out and working hard.

"No one likes being second place even though it is tough to overtake the school and conference record holder in the 400, but they go out there and give Maygan everything they've got and it is fun to watch."

On the men's side, Robert Norton is one of the seniors aiming to finish his Demons career on a high note with a SLC championship.

He has posted five personal bests this season so far as well and is competing in the 400-meter hurdles. Last season, Norton earned points at the outdoor meet, placing seventh in the event after squeezing into the finals, and is prepared to make a run at more points or even a podium spot.

"For me, it all comes down to rhythm and execution," Norton said. "If I take one wrong step, it can turn my whole race backward, so it is just trusting Coach Adam and what he has been working with me all year on. As long as I execute the way he expects me to, I should be able to crack that top five."

They all have a chance to cement his or her legacy at the outdoor championships, as the women aim for two consecutive sweeps, while the men aim for its first in two decades after being close for so long.