Northwestern State’s third straight women’s championship at the Texas A&M Ted Nelson Invitational led to a sweep of the Southland Conference Indoor Track and Field Women’s Athletes of the Week.

Sprinter Natashia Jackson and defending NCAA indoor long jump national champion Jasmyn Steels were named the conference’s track and field weekly winners Wednesday after a vote by the conference’s sports information directors.

Jackson scored in three different meets, including running the anchor leg of the Lady Demons’ victorious 4×400 meter relay team at the Ted Nelson Invitational, helping Northwestern State notch 88 points and extend its success in College Station, Texas. With Jackson closing the race, the Lady Demons clocked a 3:48.13 time in the relay, the second-fastest time by a Southland school this season.

Jackson added a second-place mark in the 200 meters (24.22) while taking fifth in the 60 with a time of 7.74 seconds, giving her a trio of top-five finishes. Her 200 time is the fastest in the conference and ranks 33rd nationally while the 7.71 she ran in a 60-meter preliminary is tied for sixth in the conference.

Steels competed in her signature event for the first time in an indoor event since winning the national title this past March. On her first attempt, Steels delivered a meet-record jump of 20-10.75, which ranks her fifth nationally.

It was the third straight season Steels set the long jump meet record at the Ted Nelson Invitational, her hometown meet.

The pair of seniors’ honors give the NSU track and field program three weekly awards in the first two weeks of the indoor season after sophomore shot putter Marco Arevalo was named men’s Field Athlete of the Week after the season-opening LSU Purple Tiger.

Northwestern State returns to action Jan. 31 in the first of the two-day Houston G5 & Super 22 Invitational at the University of Houston.

Photo Credit: Jameria Smith/NSU Athletics.