THIBODAUX, La. – After a strong showing in the previous meet, the Nicholls State University men's and women's track and field teams look to keep its momentum rolling as the units cross state lines to compete in the J. Fred Duckett Twilight hosted by Rice University on Saturday, April 26.
 
The loaded field in Houston will feature Blinn College, Dallas Baptist, East Texas A&M, Emporia State, Hill College, Houston, Houston Christian, Incarnate Word, Jacksonville College, Lamar, McNeese State, Northwestern State, Our Lady of the Lake, Stephen F. Austin, Texas A&M, TAMU-Kingsville, Texas Southern, UTRGV, UT-Tyler, and Victoria College.
 
Following a week off, head Coach Stefanie Slekis has high expectations for the teams.
 
"After competing back-to-back weekends it's great we had an off weekend and more time to prepare for our last regular season meet," Slekis said. "Several of our student-athletes will be doing longer races that were not offered at our earlier meets like the 5000m and 3000m steeplechase. This also gives our entire team the opportunity to compete where we will return in two and a half weeks for the conference championship."
 
Slekis also spoke about how this weekend's meet will prepare the team for the SLC Championships.  
 
"The J Fred Duckett twilight has been a great meet for us and I anticipate the same with us ready for some great performances," Slekis said. "We also have Andrei Fuentes competing in the 400m hurdles for the first time this season. Since we do have two and half weeks until conference a lot of our team is able to do multiple events which will be exciting since we are approaching our peak fitness for the season and ready for some personal bests."
 
Last time out at the Strawberry Relays, Nicholls won two distance events on the track as Issy Rivault (4:43.37), Maria Nikolaou (4:51.90), and Payton Theriot (4:59.37) placed first, second, and fifth in the women's 1500m run. Brady Sins (4:12.13) finished fifth in the men's 1500m run. Isabelle Seijhouwer won the won's 800m race after clocking a time of 2:19.11 while Layla Ingalls placed fifth (2:30.31). Goran Duijsters placed fourth in the men's 800 after clocking a time of 1:58.97.
 
In the field, Gracie Baker launched the javelin 33.80m to place third in the event while on the men's side, Gavin Windham placed fourth with a 47.26m toss. Jarred Whitrack threw the shot put 14.21 meters to place fifth in the event. Andrei Fuentes finished fourth in the men's long jump with 6.56m mark while Sydney Brown placed fourth in the women's triple jump (11.16m) and high jump (11.60m), respectively.
 
The teams also had a solid showing in the relay races as the combination of Jordan Jackson, Nisaiah Bennett, Connor Gil, and Fuentes placed fifth in the men's 4x100m relay (42.21).