EUGENE, Oregon — The Northwestern State men’s 4×400 relay foursome is coming into the NCAA Outdoor Championships under the radar, but relishing the opportunity.
Will Achee, Desmond Duncan, Charlie Bartholomew and Kason Jones run Wednesday night in the national semifinals at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field. They, and alternate Elijah Rowe, are the first NSU men’s 4×400 relay unit to reach the NCAA Outdoors since 2003.
A dozen teams from both NCAA regional meets qualified for the 24-team semifinals. Nine advance to Friday night’s championship race – but the 16 fastest times Wednesday are guaranteed All-America honors.
The Demons are in the first of three heats, racing at 10:36 CDT on Wednesday, with ESPN providing coverage. The top two finishers in each heat and the next three fastest times move on to the final.
Along with Northwestern in Heat 1 are LSU, Arkansas, LSU, Florida, USC, Tennessee, Houston and Oklahoma State – blue blood names in the sport. Only Princeton and North Carolina A&T joined NSU as 4×4 teams qualifying from Football Championship Subdivision Schools.
They Demons earned their trip to Eugene, known as “Track Town USA,” by breaking their own school record, clocking 3:02.73 at the NCAA East First Round. It is 17th best in the country this spring.
They have competed at LSU, Texas Tech and Florida during the regular season. LSU has the NCAA’s fastest mark, 2:58.47, one of eight times under three minutes.
“These guys know they are that good,” Demons’ associate head coach Adam Pennington said. “They are competing with a lot of confidence right now and they don’t fear anyone and they will go head-to-head with anyone.
“They don’t care what’s across your chest. They care about what’s underneath that jersey and that’s the heart. Every one of those four guys has a lot of heart and just to be able to battle with each other on a daily basis and have that type of practice setting with four guys willing to battle to get to this stage makes our 4×400 group really good.”
Going into the season, the school record in the event was 3:06.06, set just last season, a group in which Achee and Duncan were a part of.
Now, that time isn’t even in the top five in program history, as five times have passed that 3:06 mark with four finishing under 3:05.
Simply put, this is the fastest men’s 4×400 in school history by a wide margin.
After narrowly missing out on the gold medal in the indoor season at the Southland Conference Championships, the group came back in the outdoor season and dominated, clocking a 3:05.70 to win the gold medal by more than a second and a half.
The quartet is led by Achee and Bartholomew, both of whom made regionals in the open 400.
Achee has been feeling the support from his hometown of Bossier City.
“My mom was telling me that everyone back home is talking about and saying good things about me going to nationals,” Achee said. “It just feels really great.”
Achee, a sophomore out of Parkway High, owns four school records, both the indoor and outdoor open 400 marks and as a member of the 4×400 relay teams. He broke and re-broke records on seven occasions just this season.
After a subpar regional time in the 400 qualifying, Achee responded with a big anchor leg of 43.98 in the 4×400 relay, the fastest anchor leg out of all 24 that participated in the NCAA East.
Despite being the only member of the relay in his first season at NSU, Bartholomew has fit right in with the other three and has helped push the others to run their fastest.
The senior from McKinney, Texas, broke a school record three times as a member of the 4×400 relay team, and finished just .01 off a school record in the 400-meter dash, which was only behind Achee in the same race at the LSU Alumni Gold.
He is the only one of the four to have competed at outdoor nationals before, but his relay did not finish when he was at Texas Tech in 2024.
Duncan, a senior from Winnfield, has improved every single season for the Demons. He is the only one on the relay team who has been at Northwestern for four seasons, and was excited to earn a spot at nationals.
“We all jumped up and started celebrating when we found out we’re going to nationals,” Duncan said. “That is one of those memories you will carry with you for the rest of your life. It is a great feeling to be able to go. It is really a blessing.”
He has been on the relay every season in Natchitoches, and as a freshman, his first outdoor conference meet ended with a silver medal, clocking a 3:08.57.
Since then, he and his teammates have shaved nearly six seconds off that time.
But after four seasons, Duncan is excited to finally make his long-awaited debut at nationals.
Georgia native Jones has captured three SLC medals in his two seasons in Natchitoches, including a gold on the relay team this outdoor season. In the open 400-meter dash, the Coffeyville Community College transfer ran a 46.43 to finish fifth at the conference meet, earning valuable points for the Demons as they finished second in the team standings.
The relay team members motivate each other, especially to see who can run the fastest splits.
“We have a group chat called old guys vs. young guys,” Duncan said. “Will and I are the young guys and KJ and Charlie are the old guys. We are always texting about who runs the fastest splits. Right now, I think the young guys are winning.”
They have a chance to make more history as the first NSU men’s 4×400 relay to earn All-American status.
“I can’t wait to experience nationals and soak in the environment I am in,” Duncan said. “I just want to enjoy this ride because it’s been a great ride. I am a senior, so I just want to enjoy it the best way I can because coming in as a freshman, I never thought I would get to this point.
“I am not satisfied or anything like that. We’re going to strive to be first team All-Americans (with a top 8 finish), but it is a blessing to be in this position.”
Demons’ sophomore long jumper Roy Morris also competes Wednesday night, aiming for All-America honors again after a breakout freshman season last year. Lady Demon sprinter Rushana Dwyer runs Thursday evening in the 400 meter semis.