BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Southeastern Louisiana junior Stevon Crooks set a personal record in capturing the shot put title on the opening day of the Southland Conference Indoor Championships Wednesday at the Birmingham CrossPlex.

    Crooks' PR was one of 19 set by the Lions and Lady Lions.

    "That's a really huge, big day for us," Southeastern head coach Corey Mistretta said. "It's exciting for the kids. As I told them, as an athlete and a competitor, you always want to do better. We qualified a bunch of people for tomorrow and had some personal bests. Going into tomorrow, we just need to stay focused and keep improving and hope to put some points up on the board on both sides."

    The Southeastern men are tied for fourth with McNeese heading into Thursday's final day with 19 points. Sam Houston is first with 48 points and is followed by Stephen F. Austin with 40 and Lamar with 28.

    The multi events wrap up Thursday beginning at 8:30 a.m. The 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 is being 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, is accessible on the track and field schedule page at www.LionSports.net.

    Crooks finished with a mark of 56 feet, 11.25 inches.

    "We've been waiting for him to throw well and he put it together today as a champion," Mistretta said.

    Senior Maverick Bowleg qualified for the finals of the 400 meters after running the fastest time of the preliminaries, finishing in 47.87 seconds.

    Junior Dekayta Alex and senior Treshanna Taylor also qualified for the women's 400 finals. Alex was third in the preliminaries in 56.07 while Taylor took fourth in a personal-best 56.31.

    Freshman Kendesha Ingraham, who came in seeded 11^th, beat her previous fastest time as a Lady Lion by .75 seconds in qualifying third in the 200 in 24.47.

    Senior Daijah Washington also moved on to the finals of the 60 by finishing eighth in a career-best 7.59.

    Sophomore Grant O'Callaghan set a personal record in taking fourth in the 5,000 meters in 14 minutes, 53.08 seconds.

    Callaghan went on to anchor the distance medley relay of freshman Anthony Cordero, junior Tajh Lewis and freshman Jonathan Respress which took fifth in 10:13.25.

    Respress earlier beat his previous best by more than six seconds in qualifying seventh in the 800 in 1:52.74.

    Junior Brian Donna is in eighth place after the first four events of the heptathlon, highlighted by a third-place mark of 21-05.25 in the long jump. The final three events – the 60-meter hurdles, pole vault and 1,000-meter run, will be held Thursday morning.
 
Southland Conference Indoor Championships
Day 1 - Wednesday
Men's Scores
1. Sam Houston St.     48
2. Stephen F. Austin   40
3. Lamar          28
T4. Southeastern La. 19
T4. McNeese   19
6. Central Arkansas     18
7. Northwestern St.     15
8. UIW            12.5
9. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi            11.5
10. Abilene Christian  10
T11. New Orleans       6
T11. Houston Baptist  6
 
Women's Scores
1. Sam Houston St.     44
2. Abilene Christian 41
3. McNeese     26
4. Lamar          19
T5. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi          17
T5. Stephen F. Austin 17
7. UIW            16
8. Northwestern St.     8
9. Houston Baptist      4
10. Central Arkansas   2
11. Nicholls     1