HAMMOND, La. – With just one week left until cutting the ribbon on its new track facility with the first home meet in more than a decade, the Southeastern Louisiana track and field program will compete Friday and Saturday at the USA Invitational in Mobile, Ala.

“This is a small meet, but it comes at the right time,” head coach Sean Brady said. “The competition will be very similar to our team, but in a competitive situation. I think this is a great precursor to next week.”

Last year, three Southeastern athletes won events at the South Alabama meet. Phillippe Moore won the men's long jump while the Lady Lions claimed two events. Michelle Ogashi won the women's triple jump and Shalicia Rochon placed first in the shot put.

Southeastern is coming off a pair of meets at Northwestern State and Louisiana Tech last weekend, and time is short on the regular season.

“Our technique is starting to improve,” Brady said. “All of a sudden, our young athletes are starting to come to life and figure things out.”

With the Southeastern Lion Invitational just around the corner, Brady is pleased with the effort of his athletes in preparation for the South Alabama meet.

“This has been a great training week,” Brady said. “We came off of Northwestern a little bit flat in some areas. Those athletes have put in a lot of training and we anticipate the results will be good this week.”