Nicholls women’s track team started off the indoor season well as several personal and school records were broken Saturday at the annual LSU Purple Tiger Invitational. Heading into the event, head track and field coach Scott Williamson said he was excited to see the team compete against strong opponents and was confident the Colonels would perform well in the events.

In the preliminary event, 60-meter hurdles, sophomore Jarina Guilbeau broke the school record with a time of 9.43 for 14th place. Senior Dominique Harris followed behind closely with a personal best time of 9.44 for 15th place.

Harris also excelled in the long jump event, breaking the school record with a leap of 5.37 meters, and a fourth place for the event. The senior also finished with a team-best 1.54 meters in the high jump competition.

The Colonels came close to taking home first place in two different events: the 800-meter run and the 5,000-meter run. In the 800-meter run, sophomore transfer Marion Chebet finished with a personal best time of 2:28.58, five seconds behind the first place winner. In the 5K, junior Charlotte Everhardt finished second with a personal best time of 19:07.72.

Newcomer freshman Tiffany Nall had a strong finish in the women’s 60-meter dash and the women’s 200-meter dash. In the 60-meter event, Nall finished with a time of 8.04 to land 31st place. In the 200-meter dash, Nall finished with a time of 26.76, which landed her in the all-time top 5 in the Nicholls records books.

In the 400-meter dash, senior Leshea Jenkins finished in 13th place with a time of 1:03.92, and senior La-Nation McCray followed behind her with 1:03.49.

As a team, Nicholls finished in 14th place in the 4×400 meter relay.

Nicholls will return to action tomorrow at the McNeese State Invitational in Lake Charles. The invite is an all-day event.