BATON ROUGE — Just about every meet, the Northwestern State sprinters break a school record.
That happened again Saturday — and this time, it was a record that had stood for 50 years.
Will Achee, a sophomore from Bossier City, ran a blistering 45.81 in the 400-meter dash, breaking the school record of Andrei Moore that was set April 30, 1976.
That school record was the highlight of NSU’s showing at the LSU Alumni Gold meet at Bernie Moore Track Stadium on Saturday.
“Overall, it was a great day,” head coach Mike Heimerman said. “The weather held out for us, and we had a phenomenal race. Charlie (Bartholomew, 45.82) was right behind Will, so those guys to both break one of the oldest school records on our record board was a phenomenal achievement.
“Both of our 4x4s had a great day. I can’t be prouder of them and the coaches. You know Coach (Adam) Pennington’s got those kids really rolling so it was a great day. I’m very happy.”
The Demons took third (Achee), fourth (Bartholomew) and sixth (Desmond Duncan, in a personal best 46.21) in a deep 400 meter dash field.
The women’s 4×400 relay team of Kahliyah Anderson, Margaret Conteh, Rushana Dwyer and Samari Finney ran an impressive 3:32.23, fastest in the Southland Conference.
The men’s 4×4 ran a winning 3:04.93.
“It was a great day and I can’t speak highly enough about the relays,” Heimerman said. “That’s around 3:04.00 for the third week in a row for the men’s 4×4 in a very impressive win. They’re undefeated for the outdoor season, which is another big feather in the cap because we’ve been to a lot of big meets.”
In the women’s 400-meter dash, three Lady Demons ran either a personal best or season best, led by Dwyer, who ran a season-best 51.44 to win the event and maintain the lead in the conference.
In the field events, Roy Morris, an All-American as a freshman, finished second in the men’s long jump, recording a jump of 24-7.25.
Next up is a trip to Texas A&M for the Alumni Muster, the last meet before the SLC Championships at Stephen F. Austin, beginning May 14.
