By: Jonathon Zenk, Assistant Director of Communications
LUBBOCK, Texas—Northwestern State is making a habit of not only breaking school records but shattering them.
Sophomore
Will Achee has taken a liking to running at Texas Tech this season. At the Corky Classic in the first meet, he broke the indoor school record in both the 400-meter dash and as a member of the 4x400 relay team.
Fast forward to Friday, Achee shattered that 400 record with a time of 46.48, besting his previous mark of 46.84, set at the Corky Classic.
He was one of four to run in the men's 400, as
Desmond Duncan (48.05) placed 31
st,
Elijah Rowe (48.26) and
Mikkel Johansson (48.69) also ran, with Rowe's being a personal best.
On the women's side in the 400, Rushana Dwyer and Margaret Conteh finished second and third out of 93 competitors. Dwyer clocked a 53.05, finishing just shy of Maygan Shaw's school record of 52.90. Conteh ran a personal-best 53.23, crushing her previous best of 53.85.
"The 60 and 400 groups were phenomenal," head coach
Mike Heimerman said. "Will is a beast and just keeps getting better. That was the first 400 for Rashana and she took it easy out of the blocks because she thought it was getting called back for a false start. The men's and women's 400 groups crushed it. The twins ran great in the 60 and the hurdle groups for both did very well with Dynia making the finals running a PR in the second round."
Dhakiya Blake ran a 56.02 to place 24
th, Samari Finney (57.46) and Jayla Mason (58.10) finished 69
th.
In addition to the 400 group, the 60-meter dash group had another strong meet.
Kalen Beavers continued his strong indoor season, as he tied an indoor best with a 6.70 in the prelims to place seventh before clocking a personal-best 6.69 in the semifinals to finish 12
th.
In the prelims in the 60, reigning Southland Conference Male Track Athlete of the Week
Keontae Gaines ran a 6.81 to place 25
th. He was followed by AJ Evans (6.81) in 26
th and
Eddy Vu (6.81) in 27
th.
On the women's side, Sileena Farrell made her way to the finals, finishing fourth with a time of 7.43. To make it there, she nearly a ran a personal best in the prelims with a 7.37 to place fourth before finishing seventh in the semifinals to earn a trip to the finals with a time of 7.42.
Juvonna Cornette (7.51) and Dynia Lewis (7.53) also made the semifinals to place 15
th and 20
th in the prelims.
Lewis (7.54) finished 14
th and Cornette (7.58) placed 19
th in the semis.
Lewis continued a strong day by making the women's 60-meter hurdle finals, finishing fourth with a time of 8.43. She posted an indoor personal best of 8.40 in the semis after running an 8.51 in the prelims.
Thea Ring (8.86) also ran an indoor personal best in the 60 hurdles and Silet Gray (8.90) ran a season best.
On the men's side,
Dishaun Lamb finished 18
th with a time of 8.07 after making the semis by running a season-best 8.05 to finish 18
th.
Brian Fisher (8.20) placed 28
th.
In the distance, freshman Alaysia Reed ran a personal-best 2:24.23 to finish 28
th in the women's 800-meter run.
In the field events,
Roy Morris continued his strong season with a 24-7.75 in the men's long jump section A to place second.
Over in section B, Rowe recorded a 23-7.5 to finish third out of 31.
Randy Kelly posted an indoor personal best with a 23-0.75 to finish eighth and
Marquis Butler (22-5) came in 22
nd.
Ryah Dates tossed a 53-6.75 to finish 16
th in the women's weight throw. Ana Manousaridis (49-11.25) placed 23
rd and Tahisha Thompson (45-9) came in 30
th.
The Demons and Lady Demons wrap up their time at the Jarvis Scott Invite on Saturday with events beginning at 11 a.m. Following the meet, they head to the SLC Championships, which start on Feb. 25 in Birmingham, Ala.
"We are working hard and learning with every rep," Heimerman said. "Overall, It was a good day and we will go back to work tomorrow."