Nicholls teams close out season at Southland Conference Track & Field Championship

A long year that started with an indoor season ends for the Nicholls track teams with the Southland Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

The event runs from Thursday through Saturday at Holloway Field in Houston.

Held on the Rice University camps, the venue is the same location the Nicholls track teams performed at in their most recent meet at the J. Fred Duckett Twilight on April 20.

“It’s perfect. Our athletes like the facility. I like the Rice facility. I think our only complaint is the parking is a little bit further from the track,” Nicholls coach Stefanie Slekis said. “Otherwise, the jump runways are awesome. Everything’s right there at the track. It’s just a great venue and so we’re really excited that we’ve already been at the venue.”

Unlike most regular season meets; the conference championship is a three-day event.

“Most big conferences do a three-day outdoor championship,” said Slekis. “They do a two-day indoor championship and then outdoor they stretch it out.

“It enables you to do more doubles. For example, Danya (Satterfield) gets to run the 400 hurdles Day 1, the 100 hurdles Day 2, and if she makes the finals, they’re both on the same day Saturday. Maria (Nikolaou) is running the 1500 prelim on Thursday, the 800 prelim Friday, and the (1500 and 800) on Saturday if she makes those finals.”

The Nicholls coach said she likes her team’s positioning heading into the conference championship.

“I think our coaching staff is really good at having us peak well, which is huge in our sport. Indoor, we did great. Championship across the board, people really performed at a high level when it mattered,” Slekis said.

After taking part in numerous events in various meets to prepare, several Nicholls athletes will take part in the heptathlon.

“Cherie Neal and Jinte Braas, they both scored in the indoor pentathlon. We’ll be doing the heptathlon. Andrea Tirado, who did the pentathlon indoor, she also is doing the hep outdoor, so all three of them are doing that,” Slekis said. “It’s the first time this season we will do the full heptathlon.

“I think we will see some all-time Nicholls marks. We’re really excited to see how they compete. There’s 12 women in the conference entered, so we’re excited to see can Cherie and Jinte place higher than they did indoor or at least match what they did. Then will Andrea get herself in the mix over seven events.”

Sophia Harrison will be running in the 10k.

“She scored indoor in the 5k. We’re real excited with where she can place or not. She scored indoor in 5k. The minimum goal is scoring, but how high up can she get,” said Slekis.

Issy Rivault will run the steeplechase.

On the men’s side, Luke Futey also will be competing in the 10k and 5k.

Chris Tucker, who scored during the indoor meet, will take part in the triple jump.

The men’s relay team will compete in the 4 x 100.

“Our men’s 4 x 100 hasn’t quite clicked all season. We switched up the order on the 4 x 100, so we’re kind of excited to see for the men,” said Slekis. “They already have the school record, but they wanted to be faster before I publicize it.

“It was the same order again at the Rice meet and now they’ve switched it. They’re definitely running the new order. That will be interesting to see how it goes.”

Gavin Windham set a personal record this season in the javelin.

“We want to see if he can be in the mix and make his first conference final,” Slekis said.

“Also on the women’s side, Maria Kassidy (Besson) in the 1500, we feel like they have a shot at getting into the final,” Slekis continued. “Same thing for Maria in the 800. Nia (Maye) is out there Sydney (Brown) in the triple jump, high jump, she’s in the mix. Danya has a shot in the short hurdles. She’s also running the long hurdles.

“I think we’ve got a lot of points possible out there. We’re kind of excited to see if we can all execute on a given day.”

The measure of success for the Nicholls track teams in the conference championship, Slekis said, can come in various forms.

“We always talk about if everyone can set a personal best, then we feel really good about where we were. That’s kind of like an overall goal,” the Nicholls coach said. “The fun thing about outdoors, we already did the indoor championship. It’s kind of fun to build on that where you could see can we score more points as a team than we did indoor.

“I think the big thing would be getting someone on the podium. We didn’t have anyone on the podium indoor. That’s a big goal. Outdoor, we have some people that I think have a shot. Can we perform at our best and be able to do that? I think that’s kind of the two things you’re looking at. Always, we want to be in the championship and have everyone on the team set a personal best championship because that means we (as coaches) did our jobs, they did their job.”

There are team aspirations as well, Slekis said.

“As a team, we beat HCU indoor. So it’d be nice to beat another team or two. If that doesn’t happen, looking at the points, can we score more outdoor than we scored indoor?”