GAINESVILLE, Fla.—On Friday, the 4×400 relay took center stage for Northwestern State’s track and field teams at the University of Florida Relays.
Competing with top-caliber competition, the Demons recorded the nation’s second-fastest time in the men’s 4×400 meter relay, a 3:04.67 school record by Desmond Duncan, Charlie Bartholomew, Kason Jones and Will Achee. The women’s 4×400 relay team was third in its race with a 3:34.04 mark that is top 10 in NCAA Division I.
On Saturday, it was the individual 400-meter dash where NSU athletes had breakout performances.
Rushana Dwyer and Margaret Conteh ran massive personal bests for the women, with Dwyer having the second-best time in the event in school history.
In the men’s 400, Achee ran a personal-best 46.07, which is the top mark in the Southland, No. 5 in the NCAA East and top 10 nationally.
“It was a great day at the track today led by our 400 group,” head coach Mike Heimerman said. “They did a phenomenal job. Rushana led the way on the women’s side. That’s a all-time PR for her — 52 is a phenomenal time. She was the fastest collegiate runner which was very impressive and her mark is No. 2 all-time here, only behind Megan Shaw. She looks so smooth and she made it look kind of effortless, which is crazy. It’s even crazier as I think she’s got a little bit more left in where she can even run faster.”
Dwyer ran a 51.59, besting her previous best by more than a half-second, to place second in the event out of 46 competitors.
Not only is her time second in program history, but it also slides into the top 10 nationally.
Conteh clocked a 52.76, which is in the top 20 nationally. Her previous best was 53.50.
“It was another great day for Margaret as well,” Heimerman said. “It was Margaret’s first time running under 53 seconds, so it was very impressive and we’re very proud of her. She’s been working very hard and it looked great.”
Those two times are easily the top marks in the Southland this season.
Not to be outdone, the men also shined, led by Achee, whose 46.07 is also the top mark in the Southland and top 10 in the country.
Northwestern won two men’s field events. Friday, Roy Morris took gold in the long jump with a personal-best 25-2 on his final attempt. Saturday, Tarajh Hudson (179-2) won the discus, while Shakera Kirk (167-4) was second in the women’s discus.
“A lot of (track and field) people know who Northwestern State is, but after this weekend, a lot more people do from some of the schools that we don’t see often,” Heimerman said. “There were a lot of high schools here and they saw what we did, and it was a very impressive weekend, so we feel like we got a lot of things accomplished.
“We have some things that we still need to work on and you know you’re never satisfied as a coach or an athlete so there’s things that we’re going to keep competing and working on, but it was a great meet and a great weekend and you know we represented Northwestern State to the best of our ability and I think everybody should be happy with what we did.”
