BATON ROUGE, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana University track and field team got a historic run from Esther Nwanze, becoming one of six Lions to claim a medal-winning spot on Saturday at the Keyth Talley Invitational at LSU's Bernie Moore Stadium.
 
After setting a new personal best in the 400-meter hurdles and just missing breaking the one minute-mark last week at the Louisiana Classics, Nwanze broke through that barrier to become the first Lady Lion to run that discipline in less than 60 seconds in a decade, finishing in 59.39 on Saturday to win a silver medal.
 
That was the first of two medals taken home by the Lady Lions of the track on the day as Ava Pitarro showed her speed in the 3,000-meter run, finishing in a gold medal-winning time of 10:39.92.
 
The rest of the medals won on the day by Southeastern were taken by the men in field events. Terrell Webb set two different personal bests on the day, one of which medal-winning. In the hammer throw, Webb took home a silver medal with a personal best throw of 65.21 meters (213'11"). He followed that up with another personal best, this one in the discus throw, with a toss of 47.98 meters (157'5"), which got him a 10^th-place finish in that competition.
 
Slavko Stevic continued to be the model of consistency in the high jump, taking home a gold medal with his highest jump on the day clearing 2.11 meters (6'11").
 
Gabriel Lim continued to make a statement that he will have to be watched in the javelin throw, taking home his second gold medal out of two collegiate outdoor competitions in which he's taken part in. His third throw of the day went 62.13 meters (203'10"), good enough to put him, and keep him, at the top of the leaderboard for the rest of the competition.
 
SLU's final medal of the day was taken by Donroy Brown, whose second throw in the shot put went 16.65 meters (54'7.5"), moving him into first place where he stayed to earn gold.
 
Numerous other Lions set personal records on the day. Three came in the men's 600-meter dash with Josh Anding (1:21.12, 8^th), Josiah Whitaker (1:21.84, 10^th), and Courtlin Baunchand (1:25.61, 19^th) all stopping the clock faster than they have before. In the men's hammer throw, Gerrit Visser just missed joining Webb on the podium with a personal best throw of 57.80 meters (189'7") for a fifth-place finish while Donald Butler also just missed joining Stevic on the high jump podium as he cleared 2.06 meters (6'9") for a fourth-place finish, the highest he's jumped in his collegiate career. Austin Harper launched the javelin 47.80 meters (156'10"), the furthest he's ever thrown it before, finishing 13^th. On the women's side of the javelin throw, Bailey Babin's toss of 34.86 meters (114'4") was the furthest she's ever thrown to finish 10^th on the day.
 
Several others set new season bests on the day. In the women's 200-meter dash, Immaculate Danial and Porsha Miles both bested their top times of 2024 with Danial finishing in 25.13 seconds for a 15^th place finish while Miles crossed in 25.30 seconds for a 17^th-place finish for the day. Anna Ferrand had her best javelin throw of the year with her best toss going 37.04 meters (121'6"), good enough for eighth-place in the competition. The men's 4x400-meter relay team also ran its fastest time of the season so far with Javon-Taye Williams, Josh Anding, Olu Ogunyemi, and Monte Parker combining to finish in 3:18.70 for a fourth-place finish, just missing the medal stand.
 
The Lions now head to Texas for the prestigious, 96^th-Annual Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays. The Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays run from Wednesday to Saturday at the Mike A. Myers Track & Soccer Stadium in Austin, 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
For more information on Southeastern Track and Field, follow @LionUpTrack on Twitter, like /SLUathletics on Facebook and subscribe to the SLUathletics YouTube. channel.