JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Three Northwestern State entries did not finish in the top 12 and advance past the NCAA Track and Field East Prelims into the national semifinals Saturday night as the regional championships concluded.
The Lady Demons' 4x400 meter relay squad ran the second-best time in school history by two seconds and threatened the two-week-old school record with a 3:38.58 mark that wound up 19th among the 24 regional finalists. Sophomore Quiana Griffin, junior Constance Seibles, senior Lawana Perkins and sophomore Consuela Lindsay outran Indiana and Ole Miss, among others, and nearly bettered their school-record 3:38.26 at the Southland Conference Championships two weeks ago. However, NSU's foursome needed to be faster than 3:36.84, the 12th place time by George Mason, to advance to the national meet. LSU won in 3:30.05.
In the men's 200 regional finals/national quarterfinals, NSU junior sprinter Kendal Taylor finished 20th with a 21.01 time, just ahead of Louisiana Tech sophomore Trey Hadnot (21st, 21:05). Two LSU runners, Keyth Talley (13th, 20.70) and Shermund Allsop (15th, 20.71), also didn't advance, but LSU freshman Aaron Ernest (eighth, 20.54) and Grambling junior Akeem Williams (12th, 20.68) did move on to the national semifinals in two weeks.
The Demons' 4x100 relay team of sophomore Trey Hatton, sophomore Karllis Perry, Taylor and freshman Keenan Jackson didn't move on after posting a 40.66 time, finishing 19th of the 27 qualifying teams. NSU finished better than Florida, Ole Miss and Louisiana Tech, among others. The 12th-best time, the last to earn a trip to the national meet, was Virginia Tech at 40.07.
It's the first time since 1994 that no NSU track and field competitor will compete at the national meet, although the format was significantly altered in 2011 when regional competition pared down each of the two regions to just 12 national qualifiers without any consideration for past performances. Under the former system, Lady Demon freshman javelin thrower Ashley Aldredge, with the nation's 14th-ranked throw, would have likely qualified for the national meet with her 166-0 season's best, the second-ranked throw in school history.