HOUSTON -- Northwestern State was nipped at the finish line by Texas-Arlington in an exciting 4x400 meter relay battle to wrap up the 2009 Southland Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships Saturday, with two individual third-place finishes providing the other highlights for NSU on the meet's second and final day.
Michael Green ran the anchor leg on the relay for the Demons, following Michael Batts, Jamie Emery and Jeremy Thomas. The Demons clocked a 3:17.55 time, just 0.04 behind UTA's winning time (3:17.51).
Green equalled his personal best time in the 400 meter dash final, and was third as Stephen F. Austin's Chris Moody won in 48.20.
Michael Hill gave Northwestern its' other third place with an 8.03 clocking in the 60 meter hurdles.
A fourth-place showing in the 4x400 relay was the best for the Lady Demons Saturday. Andrea Warren, Phyllis Iheanacho, Carmen Wallace and Jazmen Williams ran a season-best 3:50.60 time.
Warren was fifth individually in the 800, also posting a personal record with a 2:16.22 clocking. Chris Pearson took fifth in the men's 800 for NSU with a 1:55.37 time.
Shanae Steward ran sixth in the 60 meter hurdles, posting an 8.89 time. Leslie Jordan gave the Lady Demons sixth in the shot put (41-6 1/2).
NSU picked up three eighth-place finishes Saturday: Bradford Matthews in the men's triple jump (47-7 1/4), Buck Thompson in the men's shot put (48-6 3/4) and Anna Forest in the women's 60 meter dash (7.81).
In team standings, Northwestern was ninth in both divisions.
The men's champions was Texas-San Antonio with a commanding 120 1/2 to 101 win over Texas-Arliington. Southeastern Louisiana (81 1/2) was third, followed by Lamar (79), SFA (75), Texas State (62), Sam Houston State (46), McNeese (39), Northwestern (37), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (12) and Central Arkansas (9). Nicholls does not field a men's team.
In the women's division, SFA dominated with 158 points. Second was Texas State (113), followed well back by Sam Houston (84), UTA (76), UTSA (74), Corpus Christi (41), SLU (36), McNeese (35), Northwestern (24), Nicholls (11), Lamar (10) and UCA, which did not score. Top eight finishers in each event score.