HAMMOND, La. – The Southland Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships  get underway Friday in San Marcos, Texas, and Southeastern Louisiana brings a young team eager for the experience.

“We typically spend hours going over the list to see where our athletes stand and the points that are there on paper,” head coach Sean Brady said. “That's something you can do with a mature team. This is the first outdoor meet for a lot of our team.”

The meet runs three days at the new Bobcat Track and Field Complex on the campus of Texas State. Southeastern is competing for team and individual conference championships in the scored meet.

“The beauty of coming together as a conference at one meet is the ability to go head to head and see who is the best,” Brady said. “Historically our program has done well at this meet.”

Southeastern has several athletes among the top five performers this season.

Michelle Ogashi currently holds the best mark in the women's triple jump (42 feet, 06.25 inches). Jessica Fekete (women's hammer throw, 181-08), and  Brittany Pfantz (women's pole vault, 13-01.75) hold the second-best marks in their respective events.

Other top Lady Lions marks this season include Ashley Pfantz in the pole vault (12-06.00) and Brookais Milton in the long jump (19-06.75). Both have the fourth-best marks in the conference.

On the men's side, Jeff Milliron has the second-best mark in the discus (177-03). The men's 4x100-meter relay team is third in the Southland as is Kovey Simmons (pole vault, 17-05.00).

T.J. Herbert (men's 100-meter dash, 10.53 seconds), Abram Taylor (men's 110-meter hurdles, 14.41 sec.) and Derek Hampton (men's javelin, 199-09) have the fourth-best marks in their respective events.

“The intensity of this meet is higher than anything they've experienced,” Brady said. “This is the time of year everyone finds out what the benchmarks are.”