LAFAYETTE — Starting tomorrow, the Cajun Culture will be on full display in Florida.
"It's a really good indication of how far we've come and what these kids have really set their mind to and hopefully we go over there and do something", says assistant coach, Tommy Badon.
The Louisiana track and field team will be heavily represented in the NCAA East Regionals. After landing 16 athletes to the All-Sunbelt team, 21 members will make the treck to Jacksonville. Badon says its a testament to their hard work, as this is the best team he's coached in recent memory.
"They come out here everyday and work hard", says Badon. "They're goal oriented and they have some things they want to do. We've had the most top five performances in the history of the program, at least in the last four years."
The men's side finished third in the Sunbelt championships, their highest finish since 2017. Led by hurdler Javed Jones, he's believes that he can get a good jump on the competition.
"I'm expected to make nationals at this point", says Jones. "I belive that me and my coach and teammates have been putting in the work and we've seen results in the last few weeks since the Sunbelt championship and I dont expect anything less than to PR and move forward to the NCAA championship."
"With individual goals of increased speed and setting new personal records, the team goal is to have members make the top 12, advancing to the NCAA championship.
"For me personally, I'm trying to get that top 12 spot and go to nationals and that's the same for everyone out here", says London. "We don't want our season to end 2 weeks before everyone else."
And while there can only be one anchor to finish the job, each Cajun looks to hold it down for their teammate.
"I just want us to trust our coaches and trust the process that we've been going through since August. We know we can hang with everybody else. Just be confident when we go out there and execute the best that we can."
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