BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Northwestern State women’s track and field team mounted a dramatic comeback Monday and brought home a third straight Southland Conference indoor championship.
Trailing by three points entering the meet’s final event — the 4×400 relay — the Lady Demons were sitting pretty, because that race happens to be the bread-and-butter for the program.
Just like on the route to last season’s outdoor title, Northwestern had to win the race. This time around, it needed Lamar to finish third or lower.
Just like last season, the Lady Demons rolled to not only the gold medal in the event, but also claimed the team crown, 118-115 over Lamar.
The Lady Demons quartet of Maygan Shaw, Tranasia Jones, Samari Finney and Margaret Conteh clocked a 3:42.77 to win the 4×4 gold and Lamar finished fifth to secure the three-peat.
NSU became the first team to win three consecutive Southland women’s titles since Sam Houston State did so from 2016-18.
The 4×400 relay was one of two gold medals won by the Lady Demons. Shaw not only won as a part of the relay team but also dominated in the 400-meter dash.
Shaw clocked a Southland meet record 52.97 to claim the gold, finishing more than a second ahead of relay teammate Conteh, who ran a 54.04 and captured the silver.
Jones (56.05), Finney (56.21) and Kahliyah Anderson (56.55) finished sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively.
Dynia Lewis capped off a terrific indoor season with a silver medal in the 60-meter hurdles and just missed the podium in the 60-meter dash.
Lewis ran a personal-best 8.41 to finish with the silver to begin her afternoon. She followed that up with a 7.55 in the 60, which tied a personal best and she narrowly missed the podium, placing fourth.
Her performance earned her the SLC Female Co-Newcomer of the Year.
NSU’s women’s shot putters had a massive day, recording three places in the top five, led by freshman Ryan Dates, who tossed a personal-best 49-2,25 and settled for silver. Joining Dates on the medal stand was Shakera Williams, who threw a 46-2.75 to finish with the bronze. Carnitra Mackey placed fifth with a season-best toss of 45-9.
On the men’s side, Northwestern finished the meet with a 4×400 relay victory, as William Achee’s anchor leg edged out East Texas A&M to claim the gold with a 3:10.78 time.
As a team, Northwestern’s men finished seventh, scoring 56 points. In its return to the Southland, Stephen F. Austin ran away with the team championship with 124 points, ending the reign of dominance from UIW.
