Stewart jumping to glory at SLU

By GEOFFREY STOUTE

When Southeastern Louisiana University long jumper Nia Stewart stopped thinking and just started jumping, good things started happening.

Like a trip to the NCAA Division 1 Outdoor East Preliminary at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville this spring.

Stewart, a 2010 Central Catholic High School track standout who also doubles as a sprinter for the Lady Lions, qualified for the NCAA preliminary round after a second place finish at the Southland Conference meet. She set a personal record at 19 feet, 11 inches. She was one of only 48 Division 1 long jumpers chosen to attend the event.

While her season wrapped up at the NCAA preliminary round where she finished in 43rd place with a much shorter leap of 18 feet, 2¼ inches, Stewart saw at the SLC meet what she could do when she just simply takes a deep breath and focuses on all aspects of her jump instead of dwelling on one aspect.

“I was thinking too much, and when I think too much, I tend to not do the fundamentals right,” Stewart said.

Prior to the conference meet, Stewart had been hitting jumps in the 17- to 18-foot range.

When she entered this outdoor season, Stewart said she thought this year she would record a quality finish at the SLC meet and figured a trip to the NCAA preliminaries wasn’t something she would reach until her junior year.

Instead, she got a taste of it a year sooner.

“I got to experience a whole new level of competition by competing against everyone in Division 1 in the east side of the U.S.” she said. “I did OK, not as good as I should have … but I know what to shoot for this (coming) year, and I just know that I’ll make it.”

Stewart, who is working out with fellow collegiate athletes, standout South Plains College quarter miler Vernon Norwood and incoming SLU freshman sprinter Austin Stroud at Morgan City High School this summer, said the goal for her junior season is to advance to the NCAA Division 1 National championship and record a top five finish.

While she had more success during the outdoor season in the long jump, Stewart performed better as a sprinter during the Lady Lions’ indoor season.

At the Southland Conference Indoor meet in February, she broke the SLU school record in the 60-meter run during the preliminaries round of competition when she crossed the finish line in 7.57 seconds. The previous school record was 7.6 seconds.

In the 60-meter finals, she again recorded a 7.57 second mark and finished fifth.

However, in the long jump she didn’t fare as well during the indoor season. She finished in 19th place at the conference meet with a leap of 17 feet, 6 inches.

During the outdoor season, things were just the opposite.

While Stewart said her sprinting times continued to improve, it wasn’t as good as she hoped as she was hampered by a minor groin injury.

At the outdoor meet this year, her goal was an 11.7 second finish the 100-meter dash. Hampered by a bad start coming out of the starting blocks as well as the injury, she fell short as she clocked in at 12.15 seconds, good enough for 24th place.

Stewart also was a part of Southeastern’s 4x100 meter relay, which finished ninth at the outdoor conference meet with a time of 46.61 seconds, a team and season best.

As she prepares for her junior year this summer, Stewart said she is not participating in any competition, just focusing on getting stronger.

And, of course, looking to return to the NCAA track scene to make her mark this time.