The Real News Louisiana

BATON ROUGE—Following a grueling three-day meet at the Texas Relays and Bobcat Invitational, the Northwestern State track & field teams head back to the state of Louisiana, as they head to the Pelican Relays, a two-day meet beginning Friday.
The teams were originally slated to go to the Warhawk Invitational on the campus of UL Monroe, but Northwestern State pivoted to go to Baton Rouge with the expected inclement weather in Monroe.
“It supposed to be dry down there and we’re supposed to have some great wind,” head coach Mike Heimerman said. “Monroe will have thunderstorms all day and we had enough of the rain last weekend at Texas. We’re just hoping to get a good meet in and get some work in.”
The meet begins with the men’s hammer and women’s javelin, followed by the other gender in each event. The running events start at 4 p.m. with the women’s 200-meter dash.
Of the next four meets for the teams, three of them take place in Louisiana.
In the last meet in Austin and San Marcos, the sprinters stood out.
The two sprinters who were shining the brightest for Northwestern State this past meet were Maygan Shaw on the women’s side and Tavis Wilson for the men.
Wilson ran his best time of the season, clocking a 10.37 in San Marcos to place 10th out of the 47 competitors. He also clocked a 21.54 in the 200-meter dash to also finish 10th.
After battling injuries last season, Wilson is hitting his stride, as he ran that sub-10.40 in his first 100 of the season.
“I feel great right now,” Wilson said. “Mentally, I feel good after coming back from that and I am confident. I don’t feel anybody can beat me right now.”
Shaw, on the other hand, keeps setting personal bests and breaking school records seemingly every week. In the 200-meter dash, the senior ran a 23.42 to win the event at the Bobcat Invitational. She also was a part of the 4×100 and 4×400 relay teams and the 3:32.45 clocked in the 4×400 leads the league.
Over the course of the outdoor season so far, she leads the Southland in the 200, 400, 4×100 and 4×400, and has won the conference player of the week once in both the indoor and outdoor seasons.
In the field, two who have stood out for Northwestern State are Jaslyn Smith and Elijah Rowe.
Smith had a strong performance in Texas, posting season bests in both the triple jump (41-1.5) and long jump (18-9.75), ranking in the top four in the Southland in both events, including second place in the triple jump. She finished fourth in the league at the conference indoor meet, earning points for the Lady Demons, helping them to another conference championship.
Even after her showing in Texas, she has even loftier goals for the Pelican Relays.
“I want to at least jump 20 feet in the long jump,” she said. “I really need to get my run together and jump as far as I can.”
Rowe leads the Southland in the long jump, recording a jump of 24-3.75, which happened at the Bobcat Invitational this past weekend.
In addition to his jumps, he also ranks ninth in the 200-meter dash (21.39) and 100-meter dash (10.52).
“Elijah is a really good athlete and a really talented young man,” Heimerman said. “We knew what we were getting with him and he is coming in and starting to get his training underneath him. He is a special young man and he is going to have a really good outdoor season. When you have a good worth ethic and work hard, good things happen.”
Following the trip to Baton Rouge, next up for Northwestern State is the home meet, the annual Leon Johnson Invitational on April 12 at the Walter P. Ledet Track Complex before their final three meets before the Southland Conference Championships.

Northwestern State travels to the campus of Southern for the Pelican Relays, a two-day meet beginning Friday.
CREDIT: Chris Reich, NSU Photographic Services