Henry sets meet record, Banna, Hayward, Miller also winners at SLC Indoors

HOUSTON -- Sophomore sensation J.D. Henry set a meet record in the 200 meter dash Saturday while sharing \"high point man\" honors at the Southland Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships, while his Northwestern State teammates Issa Banna, Ravyn Hayward and Tameshia Miller also won their events on the meet\'s final day.

Henry, a Bunkie product, broke a six-year-old meet record with his first-place 21.64 time in the 200, nearly a quarter of a second better than the second place time. He was nipped at the line in the 60 meter hurdles final, as Texas-Arlington\'s Adam Stafford won 8.00 to 8.01. Henry also ran the second leg on the Demons\' second-place 4x400 meter relay team, making him responsible for scoring 20 of NSU\'s 70 points in the meet.

Banna outdistanced the field to add his first SLC Indoor shot put title to his collection of three SLC Outdoor shot crowns. The All-SLC football standout threw 57-8 1/2 to win by more than two feet in his first competition of the indoor season as he has focused on training for the upcoming NFL Draft, where he is a well-regarded prospect as a fullback.

NSU got a school record in the women\'s pole vault. Junior Haley Blount of Hewitt, Texas, cleared 10-11 3/4 to tie for fifth place, the highest finish by a Lady Demon vaulter ever at an SLC championship.

Marcus Pitre, a junior from Houston, scored 10 of the Demons\' points, finishing second in the 400 meter dash (49.58) and running the anchor leg on the second-place 4x400 relay (3:19.57). Prentis West and Chad Leath joined Pitre and Henry on that relay for NSU.

Rashad Bullock finished sixth for NSU in the men\'s 60 meter hurdles in 8.24, accounting for three points.

Hayward, a freshman from Tyler, Texas-Lee High, provided a mild surprise with his 60 meter dash win, matching his season\'s best with a 6.82 time that was the third-best performance among SLC competitors entering the meet. He outran Adam Wooten (6.84) of Sam Houston to take the gold.

Miller successfully defended her 60 meter hurdles title and extended NSU\'s streak to five straight years of capturing the SLC Indoor women\'s crown in that event. The junior from Diboll, Texas, ran a winning 8.48 time, barely missing an NCAA Indoors provisional qualifying mark.

In the team standings, Northwestern was sixth in the 11-team field in men\'s competition and eighth in the women\'s standings. Stephen F. Austin swept the team titles, scoring 111 1/2 in the men\'s division to 70 for NSU while the Ladyjacks had 112 1/2 and edged Sam Houston State (106) and Texas State (105) while the Lady Demons, with 15 freshmen among their 25 entries, scored 27 1/2. The championships were the first in indoor track and field for SFA.