Nicholls adds 11 to track and field family

Fans are excited for Saints’ 2018-19 season
August 1, 2018
Terriers ready to roar in 2018
August 1, 2018
Fans are excited for Saints’ 2018-19 season
August 1, 2018
Terriers ready to roar in 2018
August 1, 2018

The Nicholls State University women’s track team is trying to ascend from the bottom of the Southland Conference to the top — much like other sports on the campus have done in the past half-decade.

To do so, they’re looking local, of course. But they’re also looking worldwide.


The Colonels unveiled an 11-player signing class this past week — a group full of Louisiana athletes, but which also features prospects from countries around the globe, including Kenya, Germany and Spain.

Coach Stefanie Slekis said the class is talented and skilled — a group which will compete favorably on the track, but also in the classroom for the next several years.

“We have a tremendous group of young women joining us to compete in track and field and cross country for Nicholls this fall,” Slekis said. “All of these women are driven to succeed in academics and athletics and are excited to be a part of a strong team. … They also have a great passion for the sport and you will see that energy at all our practices and competitions this year.”


The Colonels started first by recruiting Louisiana.

Of the 11 players signed, five are from Louisiana, including several women who come to Thibodaux debated in the prep level.

Anginique Andrews lands in Thibodaux after a successful track career at Carver in New Orleans where she was the LHSAA State Runner-Up in the 400-meter race in 2017 and a member of the State Runner-Up 4x400m relay team last year.


She was a “must-get”, according to Slekis, who has been recruiting her since getting the job in Thibodaux.

“Anginique Andrews was the first athlete we recruited upon arriving to Nicholls,” assistant coach Carl Caughell said. “Her style of running and personality fit everything we are looking for in a sprinter.”

The Colonels also dipped into the Louisiana talent pool by adding Zachary High School standout Kiara Bethley, Slidell High School standout Chelsea Harrington, St. James High School’s Kalyn Martin and Lake Arthur High School’s Isabelle Caron.


Andrews, Bethley, Harrington and Martin will do indoor and outdoor track, while Caron is a distance runner and will do both track and cross country.

Harrington and Martin are also jumpers in addition to their work as sprinters.

Martin is a multiple-time State Champion jumper and hurdler at St. James in both indoor and outdoor track.


“(She) comes in with numerous individual state champion titles,” Caughell said. “She fits the definition of a Colonel, as she is versatile and will contribute in many ways on the track and in the jumps.”

To round out the Colonels’ track and field roster, Slekis and staff picked up some able bodies outside of the state.

Omo Oboh is a hurdler from Elkins High School in Missouri City, Texas. She played second at Texas’s State Meet in 2017 for Class 5A.


Avalon Nguyen-Smith is from West Chicago High School and was part of a 4x400m relay team that ran at the 2017 USATF National Junior Olympic Championships.

Caughell said she also possesses the ability to do jumps, if needed — the icing on the cake of what the coaches believe will be a solid track and field class.

“The sprints, jumps and hurdles recruiting class this year is an extensively versatile group of ladies,” Caughell said. “We set out at the beginning of the year looking for young women who have the ability to be great in multiple events. These ladies graduated … and they are already working toward our goals for the 2018-19 school year.”


But in addition to sprinters and jumpers, the Colonels added depth to their women’s cross country program, which is where the international flare comes into play.

Of the five distance runners the Colonels signed, only Caron, the Louisiana native, is from the United State.

Lara Reifers is from Germany, Julia Verges is from Spain and both Joyce Kiplagat and Faith Keter are from Kenya.


But they’re all decorated in their own ways.

Reifers won the German team championship in cross country in 2017 and also the 3×800-meter relay team.

“She is a great team player and enjoys supporting those around her,” Slekis said.


Kiplagat lands at Nicholls with collegiate experience, having transferred from Eastern Washington University where she was on the Big Sky All-Academic team for both the winter and spring.

Caron is going to be good in the classroom, as well.

At Lake Arthur, she was the school’s valedictorian and an LHSAA All-Academic student-athlete in both 2017 and 2018.


She has posted a 22-minute, 16-second 3-mile and Slekis said she can get even better.

“She brings a tremendous amount of enthusiasm and hard work,” Slekis said of the incoming freshman. “I am looking forward to coaching her to her new personal bests in both cross country and track and field.”

Stefanie SlekisRick Yeatts


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