NATCHITOCHES – McNeese Cowgirl Grace McKenzie continues to rewrite the track and field record book in numerous events when on Friday, the junior broke the school in the 400-meter hurdles after posting a blistering time of 59.97 seconds at the Leon Johnson NSU Invitational.
 
That time makes her the first Cowgirl to break the 60 second barrier in the event in just the fifth-time ever competing in the event and maintains her top ranking in the Southland Conference. 
 
McKenzie's outcome is one of many highlights for both the Cowboys and Cowgirls as they near the conference championship meet.
 
The Cowgirl 4x100-meter relay team of Malaiya Jedkins, Aleyah Donald, Victoria Pierson, and Taneisha Allen placed second on Saturday, running a season-best time of 45.70 seconds and keeping the Cowgirls ranked third in the Southland. 
 
Donald came back after the relay and placed first in the 100-meter dash, running a time of 11.83 seconds and continues to rank first in the Southland Conference in the event. 
 
Donald then finished her day off by running in her first 200-meter dash of the outdoor season and clocked a 24.52 to place third and position her 11th in the conference rankings.  Donald was followed by Allen, who ran a season best of 12.23 seconds. 
 
Pierson also followed her effort in the 4x100 meter relay and ran 57.37 in the 400-meter dash, placing her fifth overall.  The mark is Pierson's second fastest time in her McNeese career. 
 
In the 100-meter hurdles, McKenzie and Brentney Carroll finished first and third respectively in the inaugural Daeshon Gordon 100-meter hurdles race.  Gordon was an All-American from Northwestern State who tragically passed away last year.  McKenzie ran 14.02 and Carroll hurdled in a time of 14.47 seconds, the third fastest time in her career. 
 
Alanna Arvie continued her versatile season this week with a first-place finish in the shot put, throwing 46-5.25 and a second-place finish in the hammer throw with a distance of 174-8.  Arvie also placed fifth in the javelin with a throw of 132-1. 
 
In the field events for McKenzie, she placed second in the long jump with a leap of 19-3.5, finishing behind indoor national champion Jasmyn Steeles from Northwestern State.  McKenzie was followed by veteran teammate Heaven Terrell with a jump of 18'10.  Both Cowgirls are ranked in scoring position in the league. 
 
Malaiya Jedkins continued the Cowgirls early success in the long jump with a third-place finish in the triple jump with a jump of 39-7.25. 
 
Crystal Coulter finished tied for first in the high jump, clearing a bar set at 5-5 for an outdoor season best for the junior. 
 
On the men's side, the 4x100-meter relay team posted the second fastest time in McNeese history when Morgan Smith, Tyler Smith, Gared Brown, and Tyler Syrie teamed together to run  40.32 seconds and finished second at the meet. 
 
"It's a great feeling," said Brown about the time. "To accomplish something so special with the same three guys that have motivated me since I arrived at McNeese.  I think this is by far the best the relay teams have done here in a long time on the men's and women's side.  I feel that we have much more we can still improve on before conference.  I think we definitely have a shot at finishing nothing less than third at the conference meet.  We just have to continue to get better and push each other as we reach the closing part of our season."
 
With that time, the Cowboys hold on to the number three spot in league rankings. 
 
In the 100-meter hurdles, freshmen Lucas-Arno Voigt and Blake Grace ran 15.13 and 15.21 and finished sixth and seventh respectively. 
 
Morgan Frederick led the Cowboys in the 400-meter hurdles, running 55.39 seconds.  The freshman placed third overall in his fifth hurdle race of his life and currently holds the sixth ranking across the entire league and is ranked as the number three freshman in the conference. 
 
In the 400-meter dash, former Sulphur High School teammates Kobe Nevills and Ethan Rapp finished fourth and fifth respectively, Nevills clocking a 49.19 and Rapp with an outdoor season best time of 49.28 seconds. 
 
In the field events, Garrett Dietert finished fifth in the hammer throw with a personal best of 142-9.  Darko Radakovic followed up Dietert's performance in with a third-place finish in the discus at 150-10 and continues to hold onto his 10^th place ranking in the conference. 
 
The Cowboys finished up their day in the triple jump where Nemanja Koviljac and Lentz Similien finished first and second.  Koviljac won the event and recorded his second-best jump of the season with a mark of 48-1.25.  Similien finished behind Koviljac in second place with an outdoor season best of 47-9.75.  Both Cowboys are ranked in the top 10 in the league. 
 
Next up, the Cowboys and Cowgirls travel to LSU next weekend for the LSU Alumni Gold Meet which will feature some of the best competition in the country with schools from the Pac-12, ACC, Big Ten, and Big 12.