Track heads to McNeese

 
The Southern Jaguars Track and Field team will look to improve upon their last outing at the Arkansas State Invitation as they travel to Lake Charles, La., to compete in the McNeese State Indoor meet Friday.
The Jaguars meet in Jonesboro saw major success in the 4×400 relays, the men relay team took first place with a time of 3:21.83 in the finals and the women came behind Central Arkansas to take a close second with a time of 3:59.97.
The runners in the men’s 4×400 relay that took first in the Arkansas State Invite consisted of Lloyd Benjamin, Lemanuel Mosley, Anthony Collins and Victor Nichols as the anchor.
The runners in the women 4×400 relay that took second in the Arkansas State Invite consisted of May Dozier, Reyna Anderson, Raquel Sims, and Shanelle Zenon as the anchor.
Head coach Brian Johnson is pleased with where his athletes are now saying that “they are starting to Jell on the men and the women side and it’s coming together.”
And with the weather now starting to warm up for the Jaguar track team, their times are going up as well.
“We had that ice storm where we couldn’t do nothing for a week, so this is the first meet off them having warm weather and our times are getting better and better,” Johnson said.
And getting better will be key for the Jaguars moving forward, because 37 of the 62 athletes are freshman or sophomores on the team.
And one freshman Reyna Anderson who also ran in the 4×400 meter relay also placed fourth in the 400-meter dash with a time of 59.09.
Another freshman, Akil Bennett placed third in the long jump at the Arkansas State Invitational.
“Akil Bennett is coming along and he’s learning, I’m breaking him down and showing him how to long jump,” Johnson said.
With senior long jumper Micah McCullough who won the Southwestern Athletic Conference indoor title in long jump last year is close to fully recovering from a knee injury, Johnson feels that his team is very strong in the Jumps.
Senior 55 meter hurdler, Erich Seals placed second in the prelims with a time of 7.65 and sixth in the finals, although not so strong a finish coach Johnson feels that Seals along with sophomore Harold Fluellen will both do well.
“I have no doubt that Erich is going to do well come conference time along with his training partner Harold,” said Johnson. “Erich is mentoring Harold right now so it’s coming along.”
The throwers are also coming along, on the men side D’Wayne Houston, Reginald Redding and Demetrius Boone are all experienced throwers.
The women throwers also have talent in Kashmia Weary, and freshman Jordan Hooker.
“Jordan is a solid girl, she’s 6-foot-1 and learning how to throw the shot,” said Johnson.
The Jaguars last season finished sixth overall in the Southwestern Athletic Conference outdoor championships, but this year coach Johnson feels that his team is better than sixth. 
“We have a good group here at Southern we are going to make some noise in Conference play,” said Johnson.