BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – McNeese Cowboy weight throwers Tyler Challis and Marcus Francis finished 2-3 on the first day of the 2025 Southland Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships on Sunday, Challis posting a personal record in the event for his first-ever indoor medal.
 
Challis threw 63-0 to finish second in the event and racking up eight points. He beat his previous personal best by ¾ of an inch. Francis joined him on the medal stands with a third place finish after throwing 61-7.75 and six points to the Cowboys' total.
 
The Cowboys ended the first day with 21 points and in fifth place in the team standings. UIW leads the way with 48 points followed by Stephen F. Austin at 45. Lamar is third with 34 points then Northwestern State with 24.
 
The Cowgirls captured four points late in the day after the distance medley relay team placed fifth with a time of 12:07.46. They're in ninth place going into Monday's final day.
 
"It was a little shaky at the start for the guys but they got it going with the 60-meter prelims and gained some momentum from there," said head coach Brendon Gilroy. "Tyler and Marcus helped out with the first men's points. The women got things going with the DMR."
 
The Cowboys qualified two sprinters to the 60-meter finals – Amari Godette and Koen Beavers. Godette clocked a new PR in the prelims with a time of 6.71 while Beavers qualified by running a season-best time of 6.80.
 
Kalen Beavers qualified for the 200m finals by running a personal best time of 21.34 in the prelims and Ondray Miles qualified for the 400m finals after he ran a season-best time of 47.74.
 
In the 800-meters, the Cowboys qualified two runners into Monday's finals – Alex Martin at 1:51.96 and Filippo Squassina with a season-best time of 1:52.38.
 
Chris Calloura scored three points for the Cowboys after placing sixth in the high jump and the men's DMR team placed fifth with a time of 10:14.77 to capture four points.
 
Lamar leads the women's team standings after the first day with 51 points followed by A&M-Corpus Christ with 37 and Northwestern State at 33.
 
The Cowgirls failed to qualify and runners into Monday's finals but did see four personal records broker and four season-best marks posted.
 
Monday's events will get started at 9 a.m. with the men's 60m hurdles in the heptathlon. Individual running events will begin at 11 with the women's 60m hurdles finals while the individual field events will kick-off with the women's shot put at 10.