HOUSTON—If there were any nerves about trying to repeat as Southland Conference outdoor team champions, the Northwestern State women hasn't shown it.

Following a strong first day of competition on day one, the women turned it up to a new level, claiming three gold medals, on the second day at the SLC Championships on Friday on the campus of Rice University.

The Lady Demons began the day with a gold medal from Raven-Symone Jarrett in the heptathlon, earning a school record in the process, and finished the same way with a gold in the long jump, claimed by Samari Finney.

"The girls had a phenomenal day today," head coach Mike Heimerman said. "I mean, they went out and executed just like how we wanted them to; we couldn't ask for much more. I mean, led by some very gutsy performances, starting with Raven-Symone Jarrett finishing them the way she did, scoring 400 more points more than she did last year to break the school record."

The good fortune didn't stop there, though, as Shakera Williams also tossed her way to the top of the podium in the women's shot put.

Those performances helped push the Lady Demons to 72.5 total points, leading by 25.5 over second-place Lamar.

Jarrett was in a heated battle for the top spot for the entire heptathlon. Trailing by 65 points going into the final event, the 800-meter run. She was also holding off third place by 76 points.

She knew what she needed to do—and did just that, in emphatic fashion. She clocked a 2:20.13, well over five seconds better than second place, to overtake Stephen F. Austin's Basia Mitchell. Jarrett's 5414 total points smashed her own previous school record of 4954, set at last year's SLC Championships.

After finishing just outside the podium at the indoor meet, Jarrett knew she had a point to make at outdoor.

"It feels great to win gold after not making the podium at indoor," Jarrett said. "I knew that what I did indoor was not me. I have a lot more to give. Coming into outdoor, I knew my hurdles and a lot of things were getting better, so I just had to focus on what I am good at and make it up in other places."

Cherie Neal also scored points for Northwestern State, placing sixth with a point total of 4744.

Two events the women dominated was the shot put and the long jump and each event was won by Northwestern State.

In the shot put, Williams punched her ticket to regionals with a toss of 51-2.75, which is also the second-best mark in program history.

"It feels good to finally win gold," Williams said. "I have the silver and bronze already, but I was working on the gold and it feels great to get it now."

Northwestern State finished with four in the top eight, led by Williams' gold medal. Ryah Dates (46-7.5) finished fifth, Shanice Hutson (46-5.5) came in sixth and Carnitra Mackey (46-0.5) placed eighth, as the Lady Demons recorded a whopping 18 points.

"We scored a lot more points there than what we had showing on paper in the women's shot," Heimerman said. "But with Shakira Williams winning it with a huge throw, she now is second all-time at Northwestern State in the event."

The women added 16 more in the long jump, as Finney recorded a jump of 20-9.25 on the third jump, and didn't even need to make her final three jumps to earn the gold.

Jaslyn Smith posted a jump of 19-6 to finish fourth and Victoria Byrd placed eighth with a jump of 19-2.5. Neal also made the finals with a jump of 19-2.

On the men's side in the field events, Roy Morris (24-7.75) finished in fourth, while Elijah Rowe (24-1.75) placed sixth and Randy Kelly (23-10.75) came in eighth.

In the shot put, Justin Craft placed fifth with a toss of 54-3.25 and Abner Johnson (52-0.5) advanced to the finals, finishing ninth.

Even with all of the attention on the women's gold medal performances, perhaps the gutsiest showing came from Bruce Boon in the men's decathlon.

With two events left, Boon was spent, and people wondered how he could even participate in the javelin and 1500-meter run.

"I'm telling you, if you could've seen him, he had no business running the 1500," Heimerman said. "But he said you can't pull him out. The man wanted it, and that's the true testament at the decathlon is the guts and the heart and that man's got a lot of it, so for being a true freshman and to finish third, I can't say much more than that."
Not only did he take part, he was rewarded with a bronze medal.

"It was amazing," Boon said. "I didn't think I would still have a chance at a medal, but I just love the support of the team. I said I am either going to die out there or I am going to conquer it and that is what I did. I just gave it my all and it was just enough, so I am very happy. No one would even believe it if they saw how I was."

He was one of two bronze medals on the day, joining fellow freshman Teodora Samac, who did so in the women's javelin. Samac tossed a 149-09 to finish third, her second-best throw of the season.

On the sprints, they led up to their 'Speed Demons' nickname. Nothing proved that more than in the women's 400-meter dash, as the Lady Demons moved five athletes into finals, three of them coming automatically based on heat wins.

Maygan Shaw (53.02) and Margaret Conteh (53.50) came in at 1-2, while Finney started her sensational day with a 54.58 to win her heat and finish fourth.

Tranasia Jones (55.15) and Kahliyah Anderson (55.46) also crashed the Lady Demon 400 party, placing sixth and eighth, respectively.

On the men's side in the 400, two advanced to the finals in William Achee (47.09) and Desmond Duncan (47.04), the latter of which set a personal best.

Galen Loyd (47.59) and Kason Jones (47.60) narrowly missed the finals, finishing 11^th and 12^th, respectively.

To begin the running events, a pair of Lady Demons reached the women's 100-meter hurdle finals, both finishing in the top three in the prelims.

Jarrett rounded out another fantastic day with a second-place finish in the prelims, running a 13.60 and Dynia Lewis finished right behind her with a time of 13.90.
On the men's side, Dishaun Lamb advanced to the finals with a time of 14.35.

Both the men and women each sent one to the 100-meter dash finals. On the women's side, Sileena Farrell advanced to the finals with a second-place finish in the prelims with a time of 11.77.

Tavis Wilson ran a 10.45 to qualify for the finals, placing sixth.

The squads are back at it again for the final day of competition on Saturday, as the women aim to win a second consecutive outdoor team crown. The first events take place at 3 p.m. with the women's discus and men's high jump, while the running events start at 5 p.m. with the women's 4x100 relay.

"We couldn't ask for much more out of the women," Heimerman said. "Now, like I told them in the meeting, we cannot let off the gas if they want to win a team title, which we have set ourselves up for very well. We've got to continue just like we did today. It's been very hot and we've gone through a lot of liquids over here the heat index being right around 100 degrees for these two and a half days we've been here, but I am so very proud of the women."