THIBODAUX - Sophomore sprinter Samantha Calhoun shaved 0:00.02 off a school record 60 m time she set last month and shattered her school record 200 m time for the second time this year, leading the Nicholls State University women's track and field team to it's strongest showing of the indoor season thus far at the 2010 Houston Indoor Invitational on Saturday.
Calhoun got things started in record breaking fashion. The Morgan City native began the season by setting new school marks in the 60 m (7.65) and 200 m (25.42) at the Arkansas State Kickoff Klassic in December, and has been a model of consistency ever since. In her first three 60 m races of the indoor season, Calhoun has never finished slower than 7.70. She continued that trend with a pair of 7.63 showings, once in the preliminaries and again in the finals, to rewrite the school 60 m record for the second time this year, and strengthen her grasp on the best 60 m time in the league this season. Calhoun wasn't done yet as the sophomore sprinter went on to shatter her nine week old 200 m school record. Calhoun clocked in at 25.12, trimming 0.3 seconds off her 200 m time and moving into the conference's top spot in her second event this season. However, Calhoun wasn't the only Colonel to climb the Southland Conference ranks on Saturday. Freshman distance runner Brea Goodman clocked in at 10:15.92 in the 3K, good for second best in the league heading into the weekend. Goodman finished just .48 seconds off a school record pace and .81 seconds from setting a new season best in the Southland. Calhoun and Goodman were backed up by strong performances from junior sprinter Rahjanaye Bailey, who set a new personal season best with a time of 9.27 in the 60 m hurdles, junior distance runner Jessica McLeod, who set a new career personal best in the mile be nearly six seconds, and senior distance runnerImma Kosgei, who qualified for the Southland Conference Championships in her first entry in the mile since the ASU Kickoff Klassic this December. "This was one of the best meets we've had all season," head coach Scott Williamson said. "We lined up against a lot of our conference schools, and our girls turned in a lot of personal and school records and conference qualifying times. But, this is also a reminder to us that we need to keep working hard and keep doing the things that make us successful. It's great that we're as fast as we are right now, but the ultimate goal is to continue training hard so that we're even faster a month from now at the conference meet." The Colonels will have two more meets in the next four weeks prior to the 2010 Southland Conference Indoor Championships. Nicholls will now return to Louisiana for the McNeese Indoor Invitational on Feb. 5 and the LSU Twilight on Feb. 19.