HAMMOND, La. – The squad Southeastern Louisiana track and field head coach Corey Mistretta is taking to the Southland Conference Indoor Championships this week may be young but it is hungry.

    "It's time to eat," Lion junior hurdler Justin Taylor said at practice on Monday about the meet.

    Southeastern will bring 19 women and 17 men to the meet, scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday at the Birmingham CrossPlex in Birmingham, Alabama.

    "The group is kind of small and really, really young, especially on the women's side," Mistretta said. "We're taking 19 women and 11 of them are either freshmen or first-year kids in our program. That's a lot. On the men's side, we have a little bit more experience. This past meet at LSU (on Friday), we started to see that we are turning the corner so I'm excited to see what is going to happen. I think the Lion faithful will see a lot of personal bests come out of this meet which will be good for us."

    Action begins on Wednesday with men's and women's multis events starting at 8:30 a.m. while field event finals run from 1-5 p.m. Running event finals and trials will run from noon until 7 p.m.

    On Thursday, multis events will begin at 8:30 a.m. while the last field event finals will take place from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The last running finals of the event will start at noon with the final race running at 4:05 p.m.

    The meet will be streamed on the Southland Digital Network. Visit southland.org/live or download Southland Conference app, available for iPhone, Android, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Roku. A link to live stats, provided by the Southland, will be accessible on the track and field schedule page at www.LionSports.net.

    Among the student-athletes to watch for the Lions is senior Maverick Bowleg who comes in with a Southland-best time of 47.78 seconds in the 400 meters. Sophomore Grant O'Callaghan has the second-best 5,000 time and the fourth-best time in the 3,000. And junior Cliff Resias has the second-best time in the 60.

    Other Lions will top-10 marks in the conference in 2018 are junior Stevon Crooks (fourth, shot put); freshman Adam Cortez (fourth, 5,000); freshman Anthony Cordero (sixth, 5,000); Taylor (seventh, 60-meter hurdles); and sophomore Michael Seither (seventh, weight throw). The Lions distance medley had the fourth-best time and the 4x400 relay the fifth-best this season.

    On the women's side, freshman Ashley Davis recorded the second-best shot put in the Southland. Junior Dekayta Alex had the third-best 400 time while senior Daijah Washington tied for the fifth-fastest 60 mark. Other Lady Lions in the top 10 were junior Clarissa Smith (sixth, 5,000); junior Alexia Stein (tied sixth, shot put); senior Natalia Redondo (eighth, weight throw); junior Milica Ozegovic (ninth, 400); and freshman Tara Stuntz (10^th, 5,000). The Lady Lions distance medley ran the fourth-fastest time and the 4x400 the fifth-fastest.

    Sam Houston State has swept the men's and women's titles each of the past two years. The Southeastern men finished sixth in 2017 while the Lady Lions came in seventh.

    Alex took second in the 400 at the last year's meet while Davis was second in the shot put. Washington placed sixth in the 60. Taylor finished eighth in the hurdles on the men's side. Callaghan was a member of the school-record setting distance medley team that placed fifth.

    The NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships will be hosted by Texas A&M from March 9-10 at the Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium in College Station for those athletes that have achieved qualifying marks.