COMMERCE, Texas – The Southeastern Louisiana University track & field team took home three medals after the first day of the 2023 Southland Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Memorial Stadium on the campus of Texas A&M-Commerce.
 
Southeastern's first medal of the Championships came in the first event of the competition, the women's hammer throw. Katrine Olsen, who came into the event with the seventh-best hammer throw in the conference on the year, took home the bronze medal as her toss of 49.94 meters (163'10") was good enough to earn her a spot on the podium and six points for the Lady Lions in the overall team competition.
 
SLU's first conference champion and gold medalist was crowned next in the men's hammer throw as Terrell Webb lived up to the standard he set for himself this outdoor season. His throw of 63.93 meters (209'9") earned him the top spot on the podium by more than three meters and was just 0.16 meters off from his personal best which he threw at the Pelican Relays last month.
 
The men's hammer throw proved to be fruitful for the Lions for the team standings as Thomas Nedow's fourth-place finish with a throw of 56.34 meters (184'10") added five points to Webb's 10 points for winning gold for a total of 15 points in the overall from the men's hammer throw discipline.
 
Bronze was the color of the final medal of the day for Southeastern and it came in the women's pole vault competition, earned by Lara Zupanc. Zupanc entered the day with the fourth-best height cleared in the discipline on the season, but when the day ended, she was standing on the podium wearing the medal as she cleared an outdoor season-best 3.70 meters (12'1.5") while not knocking the bar down on that height or any lower heights to claim the final step on the podium and six more points for the Lady Lions in the overall team competition.
 
Day one concluded on the track as several preliminaries were held and at the end of it, numerous Lions earned spots in the race for gold. In the men's 200-meter dash, Eugene Omalla qualified on time as he finished his heat with a time of 21.14 seconds, good for second in the heat and a spot in the final.
 
Between the men's and women's races in the 400-meter hurdles, five Lions lined up at the start and at the end, all five advanced to Saturday's final. On the women's side, Indya Jackson and Esther Nwanze both qualified for the final on time as Jackson finished her heat in third place with a time of 1:02.28 while Nwanze crossed the line in 1:02.92, also good for a third-place finish in her heat. The men had an even better showing as Omri Shiff and Agerian Jackson finished one-two in the first heat to both automatically qualify for the final. Shiff crossed the line in 51.38 while Jackson stopped the clock at 51.44, the only two competitors to finish in less than 52 seconds. Olu Ogunyemi qualified on time by finishing the second heat in third place, crossing the line in 52.95 seconds.
 
At the end of the first day of competition, the Southeastern women had 13 points and sat in sixth place in the team standings. The SLU men amassed 15 points on day one and sat in fourth place after day one.
 
The 2023 Southland Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships continues with day two of three on Friday at Memorial Stadium on the campus of Texas A&M-Commerce. The meet is being live streamed on ESPN+ with live results available as well.
 
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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