EUGENE, Oregon—The Northwestern State men's 4x400 relay will race any team at any time and are not afraid of anyone.

The confident Demons unit has a chance to take on everyone, as the group of Will Achee, Desmond Duncan, Charlie Bartholomew and Kason Jones heads to nationals at the University of Oregon as the first NSU men's 4x400 relay to reach nationals since 2003.

That quartet begins their showing at nationals in the semifinals at 10:36 CST on Wednesday, the last event of the first day.

Fans can watch on ESPN.

The confidence is sky high for the group.

They come to Eugene on the strength of a school record, clocking a 3:02.73 at the NCAA East First Round to place 11^th with 12 teams from each regional making nationals.

"These guys know they are that good," associate head coach Adam Pennington said. "They are competing with a lot of confidence right now and they don't fear anyone and they will go head-to-head with anyone.

"They don't care what's across your chest. They care about what's underneath that jersey and that's the heart. Every one of those four guys has a lot of heart and just to be able to battle with each other on a daily basis and have that type of practice setting with four guys willing to battle to get to this stage makes our 4x400 group really good."

Going into the season, the school record in the event was 3:06.06, set just last season, a group in which Achee and Duncan were a part of.

Now, that time isn't even in the top five in program history, as five times have passed that 3:06 mark with four finishing under 3:05.

Simply put, this is the fastest men's 4x400 in school history by a wide margin.

After narrowly missing out on the gold medal in the indoor season at the Southland Conference Championships, the group came back in the outdoor season and dominated, clocking a 3:05.70 to win the gold medal by more than a second and a half.

The quartet is led by Achee and Bartholomew, both of whom made regionals in the open 400.

Despite being the lone non-senior of the group, Achee has been the talk of the school—and his hometown.
 
"My mom was telling me that everyone back home is talking about and saying good things about me going to nationals," Achee said. "It just feels really great."
Achee, a sophomore from Bossier City by way of Parkway High, set four school records, both the indoor and outdoor open 400 and member of the 4x400 relay team. He broke and re-broke records on seven occasions just this season.

After just missing out on advancing to the quarterfinals in the 400, Achee responded with a big anchor leg of 43.98 in the 4x400 relay, the fastest anchor leg out of all 24 that participated in the quarters in the NCAA East.

Despite being the only member of the relay to be in his first season at NSU, Bartholomew has fit right in with the other three and has helped push the others to run their fastest.

The senior from McKinney, Texas, broke a school record three times as a member of the 4x400 relay team, and finished just .01 off a school record in the 400-meter dash, which was only behind Achee in the same race at the LSU Alumni Gold.

He is the only one of the four to have competed at outdoor nationals before, but his relay did not finish when he was at Texas Tech in 2024.

Duncan, a senior from Winnfield, has improved every single season for the Demons. He is the only one on the relay team who has been here all four seasons, and was excited to earn a spot at nationals.

"We all jumped up and started celebrating when we found out we're going to nationals," Duncan said. "That is one of those memories you will carry with you for the rest of your life. It is a great feeling to be able to go. It is really a blessing."

He has been on the relay every season in Natchitoches, and as a freshman, his first outdoor conference meet ended with a silver medal, clocking a 3:08.57.

Since then, he and his teammates have shaved nearly six seconds off that time.

But after four seasons, Duncan is excited to finally make his long-awaited debut at nationals.

The final member is Jones, who won three medals in his two seasons in Natchitoches, including a gold on the relay team this outdoor season. In the open 400-meter dash, he ran a 46.43 to finish fifth at the conference meet, earning valuable points for the Demons.

Individually, all four are sensational, but as a group, the team is dynamite.

Like most other athletes, the group is competitive, especially to see who can run the fastest splits.

"We have a group chat called old guys vs. young guys," Duncan said. "Will and I are the young guys and KJ and Charlie are the old guys. We are always texting and making little bets about who runs the fastest splits. Right now, I think the young guys are winning (laughs)."

But even with everyone's competitive nature, the team still has a chance to soak in something not many are able to do—compete at nationals. For Jones, Achee and Duncan, this is their first time competing at DI nationals, and it is the final time for the seniors, Duncan and Jones, as well as Bartholomew.

They have a chance to make more history as the first NSU men's 4x400 relay to earn All-American status.

The quartet has a chance to do just that in front of a national audience on ESPN.

"I can't wait to experience nationals and soak in the environment I am in," Duncan said. "I just want to enjoy this ride because it's been a great ride. I am a senior, so I just want to enjoy it the best way I can because coming in as a freshman, I never thought I would get to this point.

"I am not satisfied or anything like that. We're going to strive to be First Team All-Americans, but it is a blessing to be in this position."