HAMMOND, La. – Reggae music was blaring in Southeastern Louisiana's Ray A. Naquin Strength & Conditioning Center as Lions graduate student Andre Colebrook worked out Thursday afternoon.

    The choice of music genre was appropriate as Colebrook has been in rhythm as a Bob Marley song heading into the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field National Championships this week in Eugene, Oregon.

    Colebrook rolls into his first National Championships off record-setting performances in the 400-meter hurdles at both the NCAA East Preliminaries and the Southland Conference Championships. He has finished fifth or better in every individual event during the 2017 outdoor season, including four victories.

    "I can't say enough about Andre," Southeastern head coach Sean Brady said. "He is hitting his stride right now. He had two PRs this weekend (at the East Preliminaries) and is just feeling more confident every time he gets onto the track. He's not far off."

    Brady said Colebrook needs to carry that momentum over into the semifinals, set for 8:30 p.m. Central Time Wednesday at Oregon's Hayward Field. The top two finishers in each heat plus the next two best times advance to the finals, set for 8:57 p.m. on Friday.

    "He's got to run to win the first round," Brady said. "He can't sit on his hands and wait to advance. He has to run to win and if he does that and has another season best, then he will advance and get through. At the NCAA Championships, anything can happen."

    Colebrook will join graduate student hammer thrower Alex Young and junior Devin King at the Championships. Young is scheduled to compete in the hammer finals at 4 p.m. on Wednesday with King going in the pole vault finals at 7 p.m.

    While Colebrook is making his Championships debut, Young will be heading to his third outdoors championship and King his second.

    "They pretty much explained to me it's a tough competition and everyone wants to win, but it's the guy who wants it the most that will get the win," Colebrook said of what advice Young and King have given him about what to expect this week.

    Colebrook has broken the Southeastern record in the 400 hurdles in each of his past two meets. He captured the Southland Conference title in 50.60 seconds, breaking Adlus Wiltz's time of 50.98 seconds at the 2008 Southland Championships. The Eleuthera, Bahamas native went on to eclipse that mark with a time of 50.14 seconds in finishing second in his heat and fifth overall at the East Preliminaries. He had won his heat the day before in 51.74.

    "It helped me a lot to get into bigger meets and compete against better competition," Colebrook said. "I competed against better competition and got better step by step."

    Colebrook took fifth in the 400 hurdles at the prestigious Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays earlier this season. He also ran the second leg of the 4x400 relay which finished second in 3:07.25, the second-fastest in school history. He shattered the school's 400-meter dash record in coming in first in 46.60 seconds at the Louisiana Classic, breaking teammate Ashley Riley's 47.06 time at the 2015 J. Fred Duckett-Rice Twilight. He opened the outdoor season by running a 51.76 in winning the 400 hurdles at the Tulane Early Bird Twilight.

    Colebrook, who had redshirted the 2016 outdoor campaign, showed little rust during a record-setting 2017 indoor season. He received first-team All-Southland Conference honors in the 400 meters after capturing the conference championship in 48.22 seconds. He ran an indoor personal-best 48.11 in the preliminaries. He also helped the distance medley relay set a school record of 10:08.66 in placing fifth.

    Colebrook captured the 400 in 48.57 in his first time running the distance at the LSU Twilight. He broke the school's 800 record in 1:49.93 (converted from flat track 1:51.50) at the LSU Bayou Bengal and was one of four athletes to eclipse the KMS Invitational's 800 record in placing fourth in 1:52.08. He also knocked more than five seconds off the school record in winning the 600 in 1:18.29 at the McNeese Invite #1.

     Colebrook is looking for another record-setting effort this week, one that not only puts him in a spot to compete for a national championship but qualifies him for the World Championships as well.

    "I'm trying to run at least a 49.00 to be comfortable for a qualifying time and work my way from there," Colebrook said. "My expectation is to make it through to the finals and from there, I'll determine my race strategy," Colebrook said. "I'm hoping to go top three my first and last one so I just want to go out with a bang. I am a Lion so I hope to go up there and put us on the map. We're a small school from Louisiana but we're able to achieve great things."