RUSTON – Por'sha Thomas and Taylor Walker went 1-2 with personal best performances in the women's triple jump, the same event they swept at the Southland Conference Indoors last month, to highlight Northwestern State's competition Saturday at the Jim Mize Invitational track and field meet hosted by Louisiana Tech.
Thomas posted a 40-0 leap and Walker went 39-8.
Lady Demon senior Consuela Lindsay breezed to a win in the 400 meter hurdles in 1:00.15, nearly two seconds ahead of the closest finisher. Freshman teammate Nijah Lain was fifth (1:05.03).
The men's 200 meter dash was a speedy duel of All-Americans, with Louisiana Tech indoor All-American Trey Hadnot edging Demons' outdoor All-America Justin Walker 20.96-21.01 in the outdoor debut for both. Neither ran in the 100.
Hadnot and his Bulldog teammates edged the Demons' 4x100 meter relay team of Christian Willis, Keenan Jackson, Jarrod Charles and Walker by 39.99-40.61 in another of the day's high-level events.
Aaron Williams had a personal best 24-9 ¼ for second in the men's long jump.
In the throws, the Lady Demons placed well, led by Keona Jackson's runner-up 44-10 ¾ shot put mark. Teammates Rechelle Bessard (42-9 ¾) and Kwanzaa Andrus (42-6 ¾) took places 4-5.
Shakemia Johnson gave NSU third in the discus (147-1) with Bessard fourth (141-10). Bessard was third in the hammer throw (169-9), just ahead of Jackson (168-4) in fourth.
The NSU women's relay teams both ran third, with the 4x100 squad of Alexis Royal, Lindsay, Keshira McKnight and Kenya McDaniel running a 47.43 time and the 4x400 unit of Mali Berkhadley, Lain, McKnight and McDaniel finishing in 4:04.38.
Berkhadley was third in the high jump (5-5) while NSU's Jaynisha Berry was third in the long jump (19-3 ¼).
Quinton Helaire (6-4 ¾) and Alex Washington (6-2 ¾) gave the Demons a 2-3 finish in the men's high jump.
Brent Giddens ran a fourth-place 14.86 time in the men's 110 meter hurdles.
Several NSU competitors will take part in next week's Texas Relays, the third competition of the outdoor season.