By: Doug Ireland/Sports Information Director
ATLANTA – Northwestern State's track and field program got a pair of runner-up finishes from Jessica Talley in the javelin and the Demons' 4x100 meter relay team at the Georgia Tech Invitational, but no NSU competitors improved their status for the NCAA East Regional Championships in two weeks.
Southland Conference champion Talley threw 153-10, topped only by Wake Forest's Jessie Merckle at 170-11, in the women's javelin.
The foursome of Shakeir Ryan, Keenan Jackson, Justin Walker and Ty Shilling didn't match their Southland championship time of 39.89 but had a 40.24 clocking that was bested by the 40.21 from North Carolina A&T on Saturday.
The Lady Demons' discus tandem of Rechelle Bessard and Shakemia Johnson, who went 1-2 at the Southland Outdoors, finished 4-5 at Georgia Tech. Bessard threw 159-4 and Johnson went 157-1.
Keona Jackson was 10th in the women's hammer (173-5) and 14th in the shot put (45-5). Bessard was 15th in the hammer (160-9).
Consuela Lindsay ran a 19th-place 1:01.44 in the 400 meter hurdles after setting a school record at 58.05 and winning the Southland title a week earlier.
Keenan Jackson was unable to improve on the 21.29 in the 200 that he ran last week, posting a 21.77 time Saturday.
The NCAA East Regionals are May 29-31 at Jacksonville, Fla., and the regional field will be finalized after all marks from this weekend's competitions are posted. NSU may have about a dozen qualifiers heading to the meet.
