Nicholls track teams conclude indoor season in Southland Championship

A number of the track athletes at Nicholls go into the Southland Conference Championships scheduled for Sunday and Monday at the Birmingham Crossplex in Birmingham, Ala., coming off of personal bests at their last event at the LSU Twilight meet in Baton Rouge.

That was especially true for the participants in the mile and the men’s 200 meters.

In the men’s mile at the LSU event, Lucas Futey came in first among Nicholls runners with a time of 4:33.20 to placed 10th among 25 participants. William Nizzo was 15th with a time of 4:36.02, and Alex Hartline was 18th in a time of 4:39.78.

Among the women in the mile, Maria Nikolaou finished ninth among 22 competitors with a time of 5:12.53. Izzy Rivault was 13th with a time of 5:18.63, Sophia Harrison 14th with a time of 5:19.42, and Kassidy Besson 17th with a time of 5:19.48.

In the men’s 200 meters, Nisaiah Bennett was first among Nicholls runners with a time of 22.70 to place sixth among 16 runners. Michael Crawford was 10th with a time of 23.59, Kahlil Lewis 14th with a time of 23.69, and Jordan Johnson 15th in a time of 23.92.

“All seven of them ran personal bests in the mile and then all four of our 200 guys ran personal bests in the 200,” Nicholls coach Stefanie Slekis noted.

Nicholls coach said she has been particularly impressed by the duo of Rivault and Harrison.

“I’ve been really happy with where their training’s gone,” said Slekis. “I feel really confident that they’re going to be in that top 16. I think on the right day, they have a shot at maybe scoring, which is top eight. I definitely feel confident it’s well worth putting them in.

“They both PR’d (personal record) in the mile this (at the LSU meet), which I think is a real confidence booster, especially for Issy as a freshman. She did a great job in her section, just kept pressing the pace and was really the reason that that group ran as fast as they did in the second section of the mile. I’m excited about that.”

Events entered on the women’s side for Nicholls include:

In the pentathlon events including high jump, shot put, long jump, 60-meter hurdles, and 800-meter run: Andrea Tirado, Jinte Braas, Cherie Neal, and Amiya Matthews.

Long jump: Braas and Kamryn Thomas.

The 5000-meter run: Harrison and Rivault.

The 60-meter hurdles: Danya Satterfield.

One-mile run: Besson.

The 800-meter run: Layla Ingalls, Isabelle Seijihouwer, Nikolaou, and Lauren Graham.

The 200-meter dash: Muonie Pickens and Neal.

Shot put: Mary Guy and Maggie Portier.

Triple jump: Sydney Brown.

High jump: Brown

The 3000-meter run: Rivault, Beeson, Harrison, Nikolaou.

The 4000-meter distance relay: Nikolaou, Nia Maye, Ingalls, Besson, Rivault, Seijlhouwer, Harrison, and Neal.

The 4 x 400-meter relay: Seijlhouwer, Maye, Nikolaou, Ingalls, Neal, and Rivault.

On the men’s side:

Long jump: Gavin White, Gavin Windham, Andrei Fuentes, and Chris Tucker.

The 5000-meter run: Futey.

The 60-meter hurdles: Fuentes and White.

The 60-meter dash: Jordan Jackson, Amari Godette, Lewis, and Crawford.

One-mile run: Nizzo.

The 400-meter dash: Nisaiah Bennett.

The 800-meter run: Wesley O’Neal, Nick Coonan-Bailey, Kyshon Webster, Adam Gautreaux, William Bellina, Hartline, and Goran Duijsters.

The 200-meter dash: Bennett, Godette, Crawford, Jackson, and Lewis.

Triple jump: Tucker, Fuentes, and White.

Shot put: Jarred Whitrack.

The 3000-meter run: Duijsters, Chase Walker, Nizzo, and Futey.

The 4000-meter distance medley: Duijsters, Coonan-Bailey, Bellina, Nizzo, Hartline, Washington, Webster, and Futey.

The 4 x 400-meter relay: Bennett, Coonan-Bailey, Kamren Washington, Kyshun Webster, Fuentes, White, Hartline, and Bellina.

The meets leading up to the SLC Championships, Slekis said, have provided multiple-event athletes like freshmen Neal and Braas, to gain valuable experience.

“Our multis have already done the multis, normally maybe outdoor, they won’t have done it before we get there, but for Cherie and Jinte, they’ve done one,” said Slekis. “It only gets better from here because they’ve done really well in all their events since then, and now they know they’re going to run at a really nice facility. They’re going to get to do the 60 instead of the 55. We’re really excited to see what the two of them can do in the pentathlon. I think we might add another girl or two to that group. We’ll just see, but the two of them, for sure, we’re really excited about.”

Who are those to look for among the Nicholls women?

“I think we’re really excited about our pentathletes. That’s one thing we really have wanted to grow is that group. I think we have two freshmen that are really in a great spot,” said Slekis. “Maria, we’re really excited about what she’s going to do in the 800. Sydney Brown, we’re really excited about her high jumping and triple jumping.

“The distance running relay, Nia Maye is going to run on that, and I think the group we have, we feel like we can go score on the distance medley relay.”

And among the men?

“On the men’s side, I’m pretty excited to see what Luke does with the 5k,” said Slekis. “I think he had a really good 3k at McNeese. He PR’d in the mile. His training’s gone really well and that would be interesting to see what we can do there.”

“We’re still pretty young across the board on some of the other events,” she continued. “We had all of our guys in the 200 PR at the LSU meet. We’re excited to see what they can do on the banked track. Even though the jump they’d have to make to make the final is pretty big, for development of the program those are a group of pretty young guys, too. The hurdles, both Gavin White and Andrei had another good meet. They’re clicking down each week. I’m excited to see them at the conference championship where they improved to.”

Finally, what would Slekis and her staff consider a successful outcome for the Nicholls track program at the SLC Championships?

“I think we’ll look at how many points we think we have possible based on the rankings and kind of exceeding that,” said Slekis.

“On the men’s side,” she continued, “we’re restarting the program. We know our disadvantages and it’s really just getting ourselves on the board is always a big goal for the men’s team.

“It’s just like getting ourselves on the board and knowing can Chris Tucker have a good day in the triple jump, can Luke Futey have a good day, can Goran have a good day? What are our opportunities to score on the men’s team? Can we put together relay those scores and gets us on the board?”