May 14, 2010
ARLINGTON, Texas - Severe rain and thunderstorms in the Dallas Metroplex area couldn't stop the Nicholls State University women's track and field team from putting together one of the most successful single days in the history of the program as the Colonels racked up 20 points on day one of the three-day Southland Conference Championships thanks to senior javelin thrower Leslie Bourgeois' third career conference crown, and junior 10 K runner Lauren Jones' school record showing in the 10 K on Friday night at Maverick Field.
The day began with severe weather delaying competition. Originally set to begin at 10 a.m., the events were pushed back to a 2:30 p.m. start time. However, once the Colonels took the track, they made the most of their opportunities.
Jones was the first Nicholls athlete to compete on the day. The Iowa native delivered in record fashion by clocking in with a school 10 K record of 36:34.22. In one of the deepest long distance conferences in region, Jones claimed fourth place, less than seven seconds away from a top-three finish and All-Southland Conference honors. Nevertheless, Jones' time was good enough to beat the previous school record of 38:24.23 set by Cassie Jones in 2003. Moreover, Jones' five points got the Colonels off to a strong start as a team.
The Colonel javelin crew followed later in the day as Bourgeois continued her dominance of the Southland Conference. The Raceland native and Central Lafourche High School product earned her third career conference crown with a throw of 45.75 m (150 ft. 1 in.). Already the only Colonel track and field student athlete to claim multiple conference championships as an individual, Bourgeois held off Southeastern Louisiana's Yvette Schubert by 0.89 m (2 ft. 11 in.) to add the 2010 title to her 2009 and 2007 crowns.
Bourgeois' throw netted Nicholls a huge ten points. However, the Colonel javelin crew wasn't through yet as freshman Aja Scott narrowly missed a top-three All-Southland finish with a fourth-place toss of 43.10 m (141 ft. 5 in.). Scott's performance netted another five points for the Colonels, bringing their first day total to 20.
After the first day of the three-day competition, the Colonels already are within three points of their best ever team point total at the league meet. The 2009 version of the Colonels totaled 23 points en route to an school-best 11th place finish at the conference meet.
The Colonels finish the first day of competition tied with in-state rival McNeese State for second place. The two Louisiana rivals trail only the heavily favored Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks. The defending outdoor champions and 2010 and 2009 indoor champion Ladyjacks totaled 24 points on the opening day of competition.
Heading into day two, Southeastern Louisiana is hot on the heels of Nicholls and McNeese with a fourth place total of 19 points. Northwestern State and Texas-San Antonio (tied for fifth with nine points), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (seventh, eight points), Sam Houston State and Texas-Arlington (tied for eighth with three points) and Texas State (tenth place, two points) round out the days scoring.
Nicholls, will return to action on Saturday. Action is scheduled to resume at 9:00 a.m. However, the Colonels (who qualified 16 different student-athletes in eight different events in the Southland's first season mandating qualifying standards for the league meet) will not take to the track until at least 5 p.m. when the preliminaries of the 1500 m run is scheduled to begin.
Among Colonels competing on Saturday will be sophomore sprinter Samantha Calhoun in the 100 m dash and junior distance runner Kadi Whisnant who begins the weekend as one of the favorites in the 3,000 m steeplechase.
The Colonels will conclude the weekend on Sunday with the finals of the running events and relay team action.
With the potential for inclement weather in the area, fans are encouraged to visit the Southland Conference's Championship web page at www.southland.org to keep up with potential scheduling changes.
