Nicholls track team member Jamaal James became the first ever Colonel sprinter to be named All-Southland Conference, after he finished third overall in the 400-meter dash Saturday at the Southland Conference Championship meet in Houston. James won his individual heat in the preliminaries, before posting his third-place finish of 48.76 in the finals.
“I look for him to beat the other two guys at the outdoor championship because he is taller,” Colonel coach Matt Pantusa said. “He maybe conference champ.”
Pantusa said he thinks James could have taken the indoor 400-meter championship if he would have gotten off to a better start.
“He didn’t have as good as a start as the other two runners,” Pantusa said. “If he would have started off a little faster, who knows, he may have won.”
James was happy with his showing, but he feels he should have performed better.
“This was good, but not good enough,” James said. “I know I could have done better.”
While in Houston, James also participated in the 200-meter dash where he set a new Nicholls mark at 22.22 in his heat and posted a time of 22.30 in the finals to take third.
Distance runner Mikael Larsson had a fourth place finish in the mile with a time of 4:17.25 scoring points for the Colonels.
Fellow distance runner Farren Clark competed in the 800-meter run and placed tenth, clocking in at 1:56.79.
“Farren took off too fast and couldn’t hold his position, so he had to settle for tenth,” Pantusa said.
Sullivan Beard, a former wide receiver for the Colonel football team, ran the 60-meter dash and set a new school record when he crossed the finish line at 7:06.
Donnie Ourso threw the shot put, but failed to throw over 50 feet.
Ourso, who is recovering from neck surgery, had to settle for a throw of 48 ft. and a ninth place showing.
“I thought he would have done well because he was throwing well at practice,” Pantusa said. “He just wasn’t on in Houston.”
As a team, the Colonels placed last out of eleven teams after scoring 14 points.
The Lady Colonels also finished eleventh out of eleven teams, as they could only score in one event.
The distance medley relay team netted the Colonels their only point of the meet.
Their eighth-place finish marked the first time a relay team has ever scored points for the Lady Colonels.
The team, which was made up of Emma Sjorgen, Johanna Sjorgen, Caroline Hulden and Trina Peters, broke their old mark with a time of 13:21.
“I was impressed that they beat three teams,” Pantusa said. “They looked good.”
This meet concludes the indoor season for the track team, but the Colonels will be back in action on Mar. 3 at Southeastern for the start of the outdoor portion of the track season.
