BATON ROUGE, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana University track & field teams medaled 11 times, winning four competitions, while setting 15 personal bests and three season bests over its two days at the Pelican Relays, hosted by Southern University, Friday and Saturday at A.W. Mumford Stadium.
 
Day One Recap:
 
Gerritt Visser got the Lions started off strong at the Pelican Relays, earning Southeastern a silver medal in the meet's opening event, the hammer throw. His first throw ended up being his best, going 55.20 meters (181'1"), surpassing his best throw from the Lurline Hamilton Invitational two weeks ago and giving him a second-place finish.
 
In the javelin throw, Anna Ferrand earned the Lady Lions their first medal of the event. Her second throw of the day went 34.81 meters (114'2"), earning her three extra throws. In those final three throws, she bettered her mark as her fifth throw overall went 37.42 meters (122'9"), cementing herself the middle spot on the podium as she took home a second-place finish and the silver medal.
 
On the men's side of the javelin throw, Gabriel Lim went one step higher and won the competition. His third throw was his best, unleashing a toss of 58.76 meters (192'9") to claim SLU's first gold medal of the Pelican Relays while also bettering his best throw from two weeks ago at LSU.
 
The Lions of the track saw Jaden Bardales set a new personal best in the 200-meter dash, crossing the line in 21.11 seconds to finish just off the podium in fourth-place. He was one of seven Lions to set a personal best in the discipline on the day and had the fastest time of the bunch.
 
Day Two Recap:
 
Micah Miller earned Southeastern's first medal of Saturday in the discus throw competition. His first throw went 49.32 meters (161'9") earning him a spot in the final and a second set of three throws. It was his final throw of the day which earned him a spot on the medal stand as he set a new personal best with a toss of 49.87 meters (163'7"). Teammate Josh-Ty Brown finished right behind him in fourth-place with his best throw going 48.85 meters (160'3").
 
Over at the high jump, Donald Butler earned a bronze medal as he cleared 2.02 meters (6'7.5"). Alden Dupree also cleared that same height, but was awarded a sixth-place finish after using more jumps to get over the bar.
 
In the shot put, Porter Gibson's third throw of the day traveled 15.89 meters (52'1.75") to earn the bronze medal when all the throws were completed. Much like in discus, Brown finished behind a bronze-medal winning teammate with a throw of 15.70 meters (51'6.25")
 
Ava Pitarro earned the first medal of the day for the Lady Lions, and it was a gold one as she crossed the line with the fastest time in the 1,500-meter run, stopping the clock in 4:56.73 to earn the top podium spot.
 
Olu Ogunyemi continued to show his return to top form in the hurdles as he earned two silver medals on the day. In the 110-meter hurdles, he was the first collegiate athlete to cross the finish line with a time of 14.09 seconds, earning a second-place finish. In the 400-meter hurdles, he set a new personal best by stopping the clock in 52.54 seconds on his way to another silver medal. The time moved him into a top-five spot in the Southland Conference performance list, top-40 spot in the East Region, and a top-80 time in all of Division I.
 
Onyah Favour was next to impress on the track for Southeastern as she covered 400-meters in 53.56 seconds, improving her time which was already the second-fastest in the Southland and a top-15 time in the East Region. That time moved her up into the top-40 in Division I this year.
 
With the hurdles back in place, Esther Nwanze added another gold to the Lady Lion collection as she blazed her way to a time of 58.52 seconds in the 400-meter hurdles, winning the competition by nearly three seconds. That improved her own conference-leading time while moving her up inside the top-15 in the East Region and top-30 nationally in the discipline.
 
Other top marks of the Pelican Relays included Bardales setting a new personal best in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.43 seconds which also got him inside the top-15 in the conference, top 50 in the East Region, and top-60 in Division I. That was his second personal best of the weekend after improving his best time in the 200-meter dash the day prior. Kendall Cleveland also set a personal best in the 100-meter dash with a 10.93.
 
Aneace Scott set a new PB in the 200-meter dash with a time of 26.08 seconds. Ian McAlpine set a new personal best in the 400-meter dash, stopping the clock in 51.92 seconds. Landen Schillage and Tanner Salsman both set new personal bests in the 1,500-meter run, crossing the line in 4:13.50 and 4:18.70, respectively.
 
Alba Hansson had her best shot put of 2025 as her first throw of the day went 10.62 meters (34'10.25").
 
The Lions now come home for their annual home meet, the Strawberry Relays, which runs April 11-12 at the Southeastern Track Complex. Events both days are scheduled to start at 9:30 a.m. and live results will be available through Crescent City Timing and LionSports.net.
 
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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