Former Sam Houston State track and field standout Courtney Lord was named the assistant track and field and cross country coach on Dec. 18, 2018, as it was announced by head coach Stefanie Slekis.
"I am thrilled to welcome Courtney Lord to Nicholls as our assistant track and field and cross country coach," Slekis said. "Courtney brings invaluable Southland Conference experience as both a student-athlete and coach to our staff. She is a native of Austin, Texas, with ties to New Orleans and Baton Rouge so I am confident she will continue our tradition of recruiting strong local and regional student-athletes to our program. She has experience competing and coaching the multis and a variety of events, including sprints, hurdles, jumps and throws, making her the perfect fit for our team. She has the understanding and experience in developing the whole student-athlete, including a strong focus on academics and community service, making her an ideal fit for Nicholls."
Lord currently holds the Bearkats' pentathlon record, scoring 3,781 points at the 2018 Southland Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships. She also scored a career-high 5,184 points in the heptathlon at the Home Depot Clyde Littlefield Texas Relay (March 2018), marking the second-best performance in school history.
"I really love where we're at in the program right now," Lord said. "It's really exciting for me to build up the program and start from the ground up. That really excites me, especially in the recruiting process – I feel like I can go out there and really sell that to people and get a lot of people to come here. I loved how friendly coach Slekis and the staff were when I came to Thibodaux. Everyone was just so family-oriented and I really liked that."
Lord won the high jump at the 2016 Southland Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships with a 5-foot, 8 1/2-inch leap, ranking fourth in program history and propelling her squad to a team title, one of five championship squads that she was a key contributor to. As the SLC high jump champion, she earned one of the 47 NCAA Division I West Preliminary Round slots for her exceptional performance.
Lord earned at least one point in the heptathlon and pentathlon at the SLC Championships during the final three seasons of her campaign. She also competed in the high jump, long jump, 100-meter hurdles, 60m hurdles, javelin, shot put and 200m.
Lord was a three-year member of the Dean's List and concluded her senior year by being named to the President's List, receiving USTFCCCA All-Academic honors. She was also a member of the NCAA Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). Lord received her bachelor's degree in kinesiology with a minor in psychology.
WHAT THEY'RE SAYING
Sam Houston State head track and field coach David Self
"Courtney is a great, young and energetic coach. As an athlete here she started off as a walk-on and somebody that ended up in our record book several times being a multiple time all-conference performer. As an athlete she has a lot of experience and I think she's going to be a great, young coach who's going to bring that to your program."
Sam Houston State assistant track and field coach Cutter Bernhard
"With Courtney being a walk-on, she definitely had the mindset of coming into Sam where she had to do anything and everything possible to be successful. She wanted to work to get on scholarship and that's what she did. She's taken that same work ethic and has put it directly into her commitment to coaching. She's handled the transition with the most professional manner possible. She's had the ability to help assist and coach kids that she was competing with six months ago, which is a very hard transition. In the last three months, you could definitely see a transition where the athletes respected her and her opinion. She commanded some authority and the athletes listened and acted upon it really well."
