NATCHITOCHES -- Eight Walter Ledet Track Complex records, 12 NSU Invitational meet marks and two Northwestern State school standards were altered Saturday in a milestone-filled NSU Invitational track and field competition drawing competitors from 17 teams.
Among the performances were 15 marks that rank in the national top 20 this spring.
NSU freshman Justin Walker blazed through 100 meters in the nation's fifth-fastest time, 10.13, tying a 12-year-old complex, meet and school mark by Ronnie Powell. Louisiana Tech's Quanisha Sales won the women's 200 in 23.12, seventh-best nationally and a complex and meet record.
Southeastern strongman Adonson Shallow posted the NCAA's fourth-best discus throw, 196-1, and did not win. Unattached athlete Jason Morgan set a complex and meet mark at 200-0. Shallow improved his top 10 ranking in the hammer with a 222-1 complex and meet throw which moved him to No. 7 nationally.
Lady Demons star Trecey Rew obliterated her week-old school discus mark by over seven feet with a 173-10 throw which topped a 14-year-old complex and meet record. It was the country's 11th-best mark in 2010. Rew also broke complex and meet records with a 52-9 1/4 shot put, more than two feet behind her No. 5 best this spring but still a mark that would rank 16th nationally.
Trecey Rew broke two complex records Saturday
Along with Walker's triumph and Rew's two wins, NSU victories came from the Lady Demon 4x100 relay team (a complex and meet record 45.25), Michael Green in the 400 with a 46.34 time that broke the meet record and ranks 18th nationally, and the Green-anchored Demons' 4x400 relay unit in 3:09.61, a meet record.
Women set five Ledet Complex records and seven meet marks. Along with the complex record performances by Rew (2), Sales and the Lady Demon 4x100 relay, the other facility mark came from Louisiana Tech's Antoinette Cobb, whose 13.27 in the 100 meter hurdles is the country's 16th-fastest time. The additional two meet records in the women's division came by Texas-Arlington's Esther Abuto in the 800 (2:12.27, wiping out a 15-year-old mark from NSU's Carla Davison), and Monique Wright of Louisiana Tech, whose 54.23 in the 400 topped an 11-year-old standard.
In men's competition, three complex and five meet records were altered. The Demons' 4x400 relay win erased a 32-year-old meet standard by Texas Southern. Shallow's hammer win improved complex and meet marks last year by unattached athlete Andy Fryman, while Morgan's discus triumph erased a complex record set last year and a meet record dating back to 1992. Walker's 100 time tied the complex and meet records, while Green's meet-record 400 mark bettered his winning time a year ago.
Photo Credit: Gary Hardamon