HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana University track & field team is on the hunt for gold medals and spots in the NCAA Outdoor National Championships East First Round at the Southland Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships, which runs Thursday through Saturday at the Wendel D. Ley Track & Holloway Field on the campus of Rice University in Houston.
 
The 2025 Southland Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships start at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday with the first five events of the men's decathlon followed by the first four events of the women's heptathlon while day one's field events start at 2 p.m. with the men's hammer throw and track events starting at 5 p.m. with the women's 200-meter dash.
 
Friday's schedule starts at 2 p.m. with the final events of both the men's decathlon and women's heptathlon while the field events kick off at 3 p.m. with the shot put and the track events start at 5:15 p.m. with the women's 100-meter hurdles.
 
The final day starts at 3 p.m. with the women's discus throw on the field and at 5 p.m. the 4x100-meter relays start the last day of action on the track.
 
Friday and Saturday's action will be televised on ESPN+. Live results will be available all three days through the Southland Conference and Athletic Live.
 
Southeastern enters the SLC Championships with six top-three marks in the conference throughout the outdoor season, two of which enter with the SLC's best marks in their disciplines. Olu Ogunyemi begins the outdoor championships with the fastest time in the men's 110-meter hurdles, achieving a time of 14.08 seconds at the Lurline Hamilton Invitational back in March. Esther Nwanze has the SLC's best time in the women's 400-meter hurdles, achieving a time of 57.77 seconds at the LSU Alumni Gold last month.
 
Beginning the Championships in a silver medal position, Onyah Favour ran the 400-meter dash in 52.51 seconds at the LSU Alumni Gold, the second-best mark in the Southland this season. Donroy Brown's throw of 17.91 meters (58'9.25") in the shot put from LSU Alumni Gold has him in position to take a silver with a similar performance this weekend in Houston. The women's 4x400-meter relay team of Nwanze, Favour, Miriam Kauer, and Aneace Scott will look to close out the championships on a high note Saturday night, entering the competition with the second-fastest time in the SLC this season, holding a school record time of 3:40.46, also from the LSU Alumni Gold meet.
 
Opening the Championships with what would be a bronze medal winning mark, Victory Achakpoekri has the third-fastest time in the men's 400-meter dash in the SLC after posting a time of 46.75 seconds at the Strawberry Relays last month.
 
There are 12 other Lions with marks which would earn team points in the overall competition. Just off the podium and looking to work his way onto it, Gerrit Visser has the fourth-best hammer throw of the season in the SLC with a throw of 56.83 meters (186'5") at the LSU Alumni Gold.
 
Ogunyemi will be looking for medals in both of the hurdle distances, entering the Conference Championships with the fifth-best time in the 400-meter hurdles, stopping the clock in 52.54 seconds at last month's Pelican Relays, to go with his top time in the 110-meter hurdles.
 
Achakpoekri, Javon-Taye Williams, Josh Anding, and Daniel Atinaya have the fifth-fastest men's 4x400-meter relay time of the season when they combined to finish in 3:11.80 at the LSU Alumni Gold.
 
Donald Butler and Alden Dupree both cleared 2.05 meters (6'8.75") at the Strawberry Relays, the fifth-best height cleared in the high jump in the SLC this year.
 
Kauer will be looking to join Favour on the podium in the 400-meter dash. Her best time this year is 54.78 seconds, which she accomplished at the Lurline Hamilton Invitational, currently sixth in the SLC performance list. Micah Miller also sits sixth in the men's discus throw with a toss of 49.87 meters (163'7") at the Pelican Relays. Gabriel Lim also begins the Conference Championships with the sixth-best mark in the SLC in the javelin throw with his best toss going 61.71 meters (202'5") at the LSU Alumni Gold.
 
Josh-Ty Brown will look to improve his mark in the shot put in the hopes of joining Donroy Brown on the medal stand. He's seventh on the SLC performance list after unleashing a throw of 16.66 meters (54'8") at the Lurline Hamilton Invitational. In the discus throw, he's looking to improve his mark to get on the medal stand with Miller. Josh-Ty Brown is currently eighth in the discipline thanks to his 48.85 meters (160'3") throw from the Pelican Relays.
 
Javon-Taye Williams and Marvellous Asemota are both also in the final scoring slot, looking to move up closer to the podium. In the 400-meter dash, Williams will be looking to join Achakporkri on the medal stand after posting the eighth-fastest time in the SLC during the year with a time of 47.21 seconds at the LSU Alumni Gold. Asemota's time of 23.96 seconds in the 200-meter dash from the Strawberry Relays is also the eighth-fastest time in the Southland this year.
 
All Southeastern athletes are also looking for marks that will get them into the top-48 of their discipline in the East Region to earn automatic invites to the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Outdoor National Championship East First Round which runs May 28-31 in Jacksonville, Fla. at the Visit Jax Track at Hodges Stadium on the campus of the University of North Florida.
 
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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