Strong freshmen effort leads Nicholls in Southland Conference indoor championships

Performances by freshmen and a number of all-time school records were among the highlights for the Nicholls track teams at the Southland Conference Championships that concluded the indoor track season Monday at the Birmingham Crossplex in Birmingham, Ala.

The Nicholls women set nine of the Top 10 all-time marks at the school in the event. The women’s team scored 11 points to edge out Houston Christian for ninth place, which scored eight points.

Northwestern State scored 170 points to win the event.

A pair of freshmen, Cherie Neal and Jinte Braas were sixth and eighth, respectively, in the women’s pentathlon.

“Cherie and Jinte are now No. 2 and No. 3 all-time for Nicholls. They scored sixth and eighth place, so it’s always great to score at a championship. That’s the goal,” said Nicholls coach Stefanie Slekis. “So it’s freshman to go in and score in their first pentathlon is exciting.

“We also competed four pentathletes, so we actually are ranked 40th in the country for an event squad ranking. You have to beat four people in an event. That’s one of the goals of growing that multis program is to have our pentathlon group ranked. That’s exciting for them.”

Another top freshman for Nicholls was Maria Nikolaou. She had a time of 2:18.66 in the 800 meters.

“Maria had a great weekend. She made the 800 final and ended up fifth in the final. She led off our distance medley relay which scored in seventh place with Nia Maye on that relay as well,” said Slekis.

A number of other athletes on the women’s side had a good outing, including freshmen Layla Ingalls and Kassidy Besson.

“Kassidy improved her mile time by eight seconds and just missed the final in that. That was really exciting for her as a freshman,” Slekis noted. “After Maria came back in the 3k and just missed scoring in that by five seconds. She ran a big personal best there. She is now No. 9 all-time for Nicholls in the 3k. Kassidy ran her first 3k of her life and was No. 10 all-time for Nicholls in that after running the mile prelim, the mile (distance relay) and then ran the 3k. In the 5k, Sophia Harrison scored and ran a (personal record), No. 3 all-time for Nicholls.”

Izzy Rivault, a freshman, and Sydney Brown, a sophomore, also had noteworthy efforts in the championships.

Izzy Rivault ran her first indoor 5k and big PR and No. 6 all-time for Nicholls. Sydney Brown jumped 11.54 meters, which was another PR in the triple jump for her. It wasn’t good enough to score but still a big mark for her and No. 4 all-time now,” said Slekis.

Maggie Portier won the shot put with a toss of 10.50 meters.

On the men’s side, Chris Tucker scored the team’s lone point with an eighth-place finish in the triple jump, which was a personal record.

The Incarnate Word men won the event with 109 points.

“He made the final out of the first flight and then he scored being eighth place,” Slekis said. “That’s the second time he scored at the conference meet in the triple jump. He’s made the final before as well but been ninth. He jumped 14.34 meters, so he never jumped over 14 meters before.”

Luke Futey had a personal best in the men’s 5k race, running 15:05.

“His previous best was 15:21. He was in 14th place, so not quite good enough to score, but he’s getting really close. In the 3k, he came back and PR’d again ran and ran 8:47. William Nizzo, Chase Walker, Goran Duijsters, all PR’d in the 3k also on the second day. We had some other PRs in the 800 for some other guys like Wesley O’Neal,” Slekis said.

Among the results for Nicholls on the women’s side:

In the pentathlon 800 meters, Brass finished fourth out of 11 competitors with a time of 2:28.26. Andrea Tirado was ninth (2:39.40), Neal 10th (2:44.31), and Amiya Matthews 11th (3:21.21).

Neal placed sixth in the pentathlon 60-meter hurdles with a time of 9.35. Braas was ninth (9.68), Matthews 10th (9.95), and Tirado 11th (10.29).

In the pentathlon high jump, Neal was sixth at 1.53 meters. (Tirado and Braas tied for seventh 1.50m), and Matthews 11th (1.47m).

Neal was second in the pentathlon long jump at 5.41 meters. (Braas was third (5.26m), Matthews eighth (4.87m), and Tirado 11th (4.78).

Matthews captured the pentathlon shot put with a toss of 10.43 meters. Neal was second (10.43m), Tirado third (9.56m), and Braas 10th (8.74m).

Braas was 16th out of 27 competitors in the long jump with a distance of 5.27. Kamryn Thomas was 27th (3.88m).

In the 5000-meter run, Harrison was eighth among 12 runners with a time out 18:23.31. Rivault was 11th (18:23.31).

Nikolaou was 13th out of 30 runners in the 3000 meters with a time of 10:29.26. Beeson was 14th (10:30.65), Rivault was 21st (10.38.03), and Harrison 24th (10:40.55).

Nikolaou placed fifth out of eight runners in the 800 meters with a time of 2:18.66.

Brown finished 11th out of 13 competitors in the triple jump with a personal record of 11.54 meters. She was 12th in the high jump at 1.52 meters.

In the shot put, Portier placed 17th out of 18 participants with a toss personal-record toss of 10.50 meters. Mary Guy was 18th (8.51).

The Nicholls distance medley relay team of Nikolaou, Maye, Ingalls, and Besson finished seventh among nine teams with a time of 12:45.97.

Isabelle Seijihouwer, Nikolaou, Ingalls, and Besson finished 10th in the 4 x400 meter relay with a time of 4:07.71.

Among the Nicholls men, Tucker finished eighth among 18 competitors in the triple jump with a personal record of 14.35 meters. Andrei Fuentes established a season best (13.78), to finish 14th.

Jarred Whitrack was 14th among 16 participants in the shot put with a toss of 12.63 meters.

Futey finished 14th among 17 runners in the 5000 meters with a personal record of 15:05.52.

In a field of 26 competitors, Fuentes was 20th in the long jump (6.47m), Gavin White 21st (6.47m), Tucker 23rd (6.19m), and Gavin Windham 25th (6.13m).