THIBODAUX - The Nicholls State University women's track and field program prepares for their final tune-up prior to the 2011 Southland Conference Indoor Championships when the Colonels head to the Carl Maddox Fieldhouse on the LSU campus for the LSU Twilight on Friday.

Friday's trip to LSU will be the Colonels final chance to fine-tune their lineup against competition prior to the 2011 conference championship meet at the University of Oklahoma Feb. 25-27.

Nicholls appears strong entering the home-stretch of the Southland's indoor campaign.  The Colonels are led by a strong distance group, especially seniors Kadi Whisnant, Lauren Jones and Jessica McLeod and freshman Jackie White.

Jones, the Colonels' long distance specialist, owns the best 5,000 m time in the league this season and ranks eighth in the 3K and fifth in the mile.  Meanwhile, Whisnant ranks among the top eight in the league in both the mile (fifth) and the 3K (eighth).  The Colonel quartet has also combined to make one of the best distance medley relay teams in the league.

Also providing a strong presence for the Colonels is junior sprinter Samantha Calhoun, who ranks fifth in the league in the 60 m and third in the league in the 200 m, and senior Chelsea Dockrey, who ranks second in the league in the high jump.