Irby Bergeron Sr.
December 27, 2018
TIME TO BRAG
December 27, 2018
The Nicholls State university track and field program just keeps growing under coach Stefanie Slakis.
Just weeks after announcing that the program would expand and feature a men’s team in future seasons, the Colonels grew their family even further this week, announcing that Courtney Lord had been hired as the team’s assistant track and field coach and cross country coach.
Lord is a familiar face around Southland Conference track and field.
She was a dominant force during her career at Sam Houston State, breaking the school’s pentathlon record with 3.781 points at the 2016 Southland Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships.
She also competed in the high jump, long jump, 100-meter hurdles. 60-meter hurdles, javelin, shot put and 200-meter dash. She won the high jump at the 2016 Southland Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
“I am thrilled to welcome Courtney Lord to Nicholls as our assistant track and field and cross country coach.” Slekis said. “Courtney brings invaluable Southland Conference experience as both a student-athlete and coach to our staff.”
“Courtney is a great, young and energetic coach,” Sam Houston State track coach David Self said of his former competitor and Nicholl’s new coach. “As an athlete, she has a lot of experience and I think she’s going to be a great young coach who’s going to bring that to (Nicholls’) program.”
Lord was a force on the track with the Lady Bearkats – despite not being offered a scholarship out of high school.
In addition to the successes above, she scored a career-high 5,184 points in the heptathlon at the Home Depot Clyde Littiefield Texas Relay in March, marking the second-best performance in school history in the event.
When she won the high jump title in 2016, she earned one of the C NCAA Division I West Preliminary Round slots for her exceptional performance.
She was also a three-year member of the Dean’s List and she finished her senior season by being named to the President’s List She was a member of the NCAA Student Athlete Advisory Committee and is a graduate with a kinesiology degree.
“With Courtney being a walk-on. she definitely had the mindset of coming into Sam where she bad to do anything and everything possible to be successful.” 8amHouston State assistant track and field coach Cutter Bernhard said. “She wanted to work to get on scholarship and that’s what she did. She’s taken the same work ethic and has put it directly into her commitment to coaching.”
Slekis agrees.
She said that Lord knows the conference, but also is connected to Louisiana, which will help the Colonels’ recruiting efforts.
When Siekis took over Nicholls’ track program, the Colonels were near the bottom of the conference in performance. They’re still building the program up after another last-place finish in both track and cross country in the past season.
“She is a native of Austin. Texas, with ties to New Orleans and Baton Rouge, so I am confident she will continue our tradition of recruiting strong local and regional student-athletes to our program,” Slekis said. “She has experience competing and coaching; the multis and a variety of events, including sprints, hurdles, jumps and throws, making her the perfect fit for our team.”
Slekis said she also believes that Lord is a people person and a quality teacher – two other assets that she thinks will help the coach in Thibodaux.
“She has the understanding and experience in developing the whole student-athlete, including a strong focus on ac-ademics and community service.” Slekis said. “This makes her an ideal fit for Nicholls “
Lord said she understands the challenges at Nicholls right now, adding that she’s not afraid of them at all, but in-stead embraces them. She said she’s eager to help the team get out of the bottom of the standings and into the upper echelon of teams – like her alma mater, the Bearkats.
“I really love where we’re at in the program right now,” Lord said. “It’s really exciting for me to build up the program and start from the ground up. That really excites me, especially in the recruiting process – I feel like I can go out there and really sell that to people and get a lot of people to come here. 1 loved how friendly coach Siekis and the staff were when I came to Thibodaux Everyone was just so family-oriented and I really liked that.”
Nicholls named Courtney Lord as its assistant truck and field and cross country coach this week. She land with countless experience in the Southland Conference, a former standout at Sam Houston State.
