BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – McNeese men's and women's indoor track and field will open up competition at the 2025 Southland Conference Indoor Championships on Sunday morning at the Birmingham CrossPlex while continuing through Monday.
 
The day will get started with the men's heptathlon at 8:30 followed by the women's pentathlon at 8:50. Individual events will get underway a noon with the women's 5,000-meters followed by the men while the field events will start at 1 p.m. with. The women's weight throw and pole vault.
 
Both squads are young but have improved greatly throughout the course of this season.
 
"This year's team is a mixture of experience and youth and we're looking for leadership from our seniors," said head coach Brendon Gilroy. "We're strong in the throws so we're looking to get quite a few points there from both the men and the women."
 
The Cowboys will enter the meet ranked No. 6 in the conference. Senior throwers Marcus Francis, the school record holder in the weight throw, and Tyler Challis are both ranked Nos. 2-3 in the Southland in the event while Francis is No. 1 in the shot put.
 
Also in the field, sophomore triple jumper Amire Ledet, the conference outdoor champion from last year, is ranked fourth in the event and will be looking to capture the indoor gold. Junior multi-eventer Logan Broussard will compete in the heptathlon while freshman high jumper Chris Calloura will be aiming to score in the event.
 
On the track, senior transfer sprinter Amari Godette with twin brothers Koen and Kalen Beavers will be looking to make some noise in the 60 and 200-meters while senior Ondray Miles will attempt to reach the podium in the 400m.
 
In the distance, school record-holder in the 800m, Alex Martin, will look to improve on his second place finish from a year ago and add a gold to match the one he won in the outdoor season. Martin is currently ranked No. 2 in the league in the event.
 
The Cowgirls are ranked No. 9 in the league heading into the championships and lost a lot of production from that squad.
 
However, the field side is still strong with junior Jaslyn Russell's No. 1 ranking in the shot put and sixth in the weight throw. Senior shot putter Ashari Jones is ranked third in the event while freshman Ta'Khara Johnson is No. 7 in the weight throw.
 
For sprints, senior Latavia Jack is ranked eighth in the 60-meters and will also compete in the 200m race. Jashyra Thomas will run in the 400m, Irene Barreiro-Lopez in the 800-meters, and Grace Sullivan and Jasmine Perez will look to make the finals in the mile run.
 
Distance runner Jeny Barcenas will compete in both the 3,000 and 5,000-meter races. She's currently 10^th in the league in the 3,000m.
 
Last year the Cowboys placed second in the team standings while the Cowgirls finished third.