The Nicholls Colonels will travel to Lafayette on Friday to compete in the Louisiana Classics to begin their outdoor Track & Field season.
The Colonels had a successful and productive indoor season; highlighted by multiple PR’s, 26 top-10 finishers at the Bulldog invitational and strong performances at the LSU Purple Tiger.
Along with the top-10 finishes there were several top three finishers. Benjamin Rodrigue placed first in triple jump, Connor Gil placed second in long jump, Jonnell Scott was second in the 60m with a PR of 6.96 seconds and William Bellina placed third in the 800m.
Rodrigue, a freshman, already set the Nicholls indoor triple jump record with a jump of 14.37 meters. With it being his first season, Rodrigue has nothing but potential as he has only scratched the surface. The Colonels will need Rodrigue at his best as they set out to compete in what will be his debut outdoor season.
Gil holds the Nicholls record in the long jump with 7.03 meters set earlier this season. Gil holds four of the five top spots for Nicholls long jump this season, another big performance is expected from Gil as he and the Colonels continue to improve.
Bellina PR’d in the 800m in the meet in which he placed third, with a time of 1:58.45, the fastest since Kevin Boden in 2023. Bellina has consistently improved each season going from consistently finishing between the 2:01-2:03 range, to sub two minutes. Bellina is expected to continue to be a leader for this Colonel squad as they venture into the outdoor season.
In the Southland Conference Championships one of the Colonels male athletes scored, when Bellina placed eighth in the 5k. Regardless, athletes were still proud of their accomplishments and improvement throughout the entire season.
Michael Crawford, who holds the fourth fastest 200m and fifth fastest 100m was able to tap into that magic during the championships. He ran a team best 60m with a time of 7.42
– .04 shy of his season best – Crawford stated that he was proud of his team and all that they had accomplished throughout the indoor season.
“We didn’t do everything we wanted to do at the championships but the growth from the start of the season to where we ended is just crazy!”
The Colonels look to build on a successful indoor season and continue that throughout the outdoor season starting at UL.
