BATON ROUGE, La.  – The Southeastern Louisiana University track & field team faced off against some of the world's best who are warming up for Olympic trials on Saturday at the LSU Alumni Gold outdoor meet and showed out with two medals and numerous personals bests at the Bernie Moore Track Complex.
 
Some of the biggest strides on the day were made on the track. Esther Nwanze set a new personal best in the 400-meter dash, breaking the 56 second mark for the first time in the discipline with a time of 55.95 seconds. Jacqueline Thring also finished with a personal best in the same discipline, stopping the clock in 58.83 seconds.
 
Eugene Omalla set two top times on the day, one of which gave him a lead in the Southland. In the 200-meter dash, he set a personal best of 20.93 seconds while his 400-meter time of 46.64 was his best time this season, giving him the fastest time in the Southland Conference in the discipline. He was not the only Lion to set a PB in the 200-meter run either as both Jaimie Omalla, 21.13, and Cohen Gallant, 22.37, both ran their fastest times for that distance on Saturday.
 
On the field, Kristian Jackson continues to put up numbers that are unrivaled in the Southland Conference. She set a new personal best in the discus throw with a heave of 54.40 meters (178'6"), good for a bronze medal at the meet while giving her a near 10-meter or 30-foot edge of the second closest competitor from the conference in the discus competition. Her 14.70-meter (48'2.75") throw in the shot put on Saturday might not have been a personal best, but was still longer than any other Southland competitor has thrown this year.
 
In the pole vault, Lara Zupanc had her best showing since she set her personal best at last year's Strawberry Relays by clearing 3.69 meters (12.'1.25"), putting her into third in the Southland standings after the day's competition.
 
On the men's side, Slavko Stevic continues to make his case for a spot in Paris at the 2024 Summer Olympic Games as he took home the gold medal in the high jump, clearing 2.19 meters (7'2.25"), his highest mark in competitions recognized for world classification. His attempt at resetting the Southeastern school record just one week after breaking it fell just a little shy as his three attempts at 2.23 meters (7'3.75") ended with the bar coming down.
 
Terrell Webb also continues to solidify his spot in the hammer throw competition as his toss Saturday of 61.59 meters (202'0"), while not his best throw of the season, was still further than any other Southland competitor has thrown during the 2023 outdoor competition.
 
SLU now gets ready for the 2023 Southland Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships, which runs May 4^th-6^th at Memorial Stadium on the campus of Texas A&M-Commerce in Commerce, Texas.
 
PODIUM CLUB/S CLUB   
Fans interested in becoming active supporters of the track and field program are encouraged to join the Podium Club. Lion alums are encouraged to join the exclusive S Club, which is restricted to Southeastern athletic letter winners. All membership fees and donations to Podium Club are available for the exclusive use of the Southeastern track and field program. Membership information is available by contacting the Lion Athletics Association at laa@southeastern.edu or (985) 549-5091 or visiting www.LionUp.com.
 
SOCIAL MEDIA
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