Nicholls runner Nikolaou wins women’s 1500 meters at Strawberry Relays track meet

Maria Nikolaou won the women’s 1500 meters and two other Nicholls runners placed in the top seven at the Strawberry Relays on Saturday in Hammond.

Nickolaou had a winning time of 4:43.63 in a field of 14 competitors.

Kassidy Beeson placed third with a time of 4:44.93, and Issy Rivault was seventh at 5:05.76.

Nikolaou and Besson each set personal records in the 1500. All three of the Nicholls runners are freshmen.

“Maria ended up winning and setting the No. 10 all-time mark (in school history),” Nicholls coach Stefanie Slekis said. “They have a lot of competition. Either one of them basically led the whole race. There is one of the girls that did a little of the work and that kind of helped Maria kick into another gear to win.

“They were both nervous as freshman going into it like they were gonna have to set the pace, but they worked really well together.”

 The Strawberry Relays was the first opportunity of the season for Nicholls track teams to take part in the steeplechase event.

In the women’s 3000-meter steeplechase, Sophia Harrison finished first among two competitors. The junior ran the event in a time of 12:34.07.

“Sophia ran the No. 4 all-time mark for us, but she’s not going to steeple at the conference meet. It was fun for her to go out there and still be able to make our all-time list a little bit stronger,” Slekis said.

Among the men, Nicholls had two competitors in the 3000-meter steeplechase.

Luke Futey, a junior, placed second among participants with a time of 10:28.81. Sophomore Chase Walker finished fourth in a time of 10:44.67.

“I think Luke definitely thinks that he got a good first one under his belt and if he has a whole year to kind of prepare, maybe we could do a lot better next year. I don’t think either of them will do it at conference. I think we’ll go back to their main events. Luke will run the 10K and the 5K, and I think Chase will probably run 1500,” said Slekis

The Nicholls men’s team, consisting of Jordan Jackson, Nisaiah Bennett, Michael Crawford, and Amari Godette, placed fifth out of six teams in the men’s 4 x 100-meter relay in a time of 41.55.

“That’s the fastest they’ve run all season and the fastest men’s 4 x 100 that we know of on record for Nicholls,” Slekis said.

In the men’s 1500 meters, Ty Frazier of Nicholls finished ninth among 22 participants with a time of 4:13.84.

William Bellina of Nicholls was 12th with a time of 4:16.37, while Alex Hartline placed 16th in a time of 4:21.57, and Adam Gautreaux finished 18th in a time of 4:28.94.

Danya Satterfield of Nicholls placed eighth among 18 participants in the women’s 100-meter hurdles.

Also from Nicholls, Cherie Neal was 11th in a time of 15:47, Jinte Braas was 13th with a time of 15:87, and Andrea Tirado placed 15th with a time of 16.88.

Nikolaou finished 12th among 16 runners in the women’s 400-meter dash in a time of 1:02.50.

Mounie Pickens placed 15th in a time of 1:05.36.

Amiya Matthews of Nicholls placed eighth in the women’s shotput with a distance of 10.69 meters to edge teammate Maggie Portier, who finished ninth with a toss of 10.25 meters among 14 participants.

Mary Guy was 13th with a throw of 8.55 meters.

Jarred Whitrack finished fourth among 20 participants in the men’s shotput with a toss of 13.40 meters.

Poirrier placed 10th among 13 participants in the women’s discus throw with an effort of 27.95.

Whitrack finished 12th among 20 competitors in the men’s discus with a throw of 32.59.

Matthews finished fifth and Jaycee Fanguy seventh for Nicholls among 15 participants in the women’s javelin. Matthews had an effort of 34.29, while Fanguy’s toss was 27.62.

In the men’s 400 meters, Kamren Washington finished 22nd among 30 runners in a time of 51.85, while Anthony Landdry was 28th with a time of 54.66.

Nia May placed ninth out of 34 runners in the women’s 100 meters with a time of 12.07.

“She took another .05 off of it. A big goal for her is to get under 12 seconds. She’s currently No. 7 all-time,” said Slekis.

Kahlil Lewis finished 17th, while Jackson was 19th, and Crawford 20th in a field of 31 in the men’s 100 meters. Lewis’ time was 11.04, while Jordan ran 11:05, and Crawford 11:09.

Chris Tucker finished fifth in the men’s long jump in a field of 25 participants, and three other Colonels finished in the top 12.

Tucker’s effort was 6.44 meters. Andrei Fuentes was 10th at 6.24 meters, Gavin White 11th at 6.20 meters, and Gavin Windham 12th at 6.17.

Tirado was third in the high jump among eight competitors, while Matthews placed seventh, and Braas eighth.

Tirado’s effort was 1.50 meters, while Matthews had a leap of 1.45, and Braas 1.40.

Two Nicholls runners finished in the top 10 among 21 runners in the women’s 800 meters.

Harrison placed eighth in a time of 2:35.26, while Elaina Hansen was 10th at 2:36.1.

Avery Guidry of Nicholls was 12th with a time of 2:38.86.

Tirado finished fourth in a field of four in the women’s 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:10.82.

Sydney Brown finished fourth among 11 participants in the women’s triple jump with a leap of 10.94 meters.

In the men’s 4 x 400-meter relay, the Nicholls team of Bennett, Washington, Nick Coonan-Bailey, and Kyshun Weber placed fifth out of five teams with a time of 3:36.04.

In the men’s 200, Lewis placed 12 out of 32 runners in a time of 22:51.

Up next for Nicholls is the J. Fred Duckett Twilight meet hosted by Rice University in Houston on April 20.

“Overall, the women had a really good meet. I’m very excited about it. The men, I think we just have a few things to work on but we’re still right off PRs and good consistency. I think we’re excited to get to Rice and see some bigger performances” said Slekis.