Southeastern continues writing the history books as junior high jumper Slavko Stevic competed in the NCAA Indoor Championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico on Friday and Saturday (March 10-11). Stevic is only the second athlete in program history to travel to the indoor national championships. 

Coming off a record-breaking season, Stevic concluded indoor with a second-team All-American finish, ranking him 11th in the nation for men’s indoor high jump. 

Along with claiming the indoor conference champion title, Stevic booked his ticket to nationals after clearing 2.21m, setting a new school record. 

On the second day of competition, Stevic competed in the high jump at 1 p.m. Saturday starting at a height of 2.10m, clearing the bar on his first attempt. Competition continued along as Stevic made easy work of 2.15m.

Head coach Micheal Rheams Jr. said, “With great support all across the board, from the school to the conference to the support staff, I can’t wait to return. We will be better prepared next year than we were this year for our first time, which is an accomplishment within itself.”

The day came to a disappointing end as Stevic fell short of clearing the next height of 2.18m. 

“I feel great about making it to indoor nationals. That was the hardest part, and I succeeded. I had top three, basically, in my hands and I just did not grab it, but hopefully next year we will win it,” Stevic said. 

Stevic said he was not happy with the results but that will not discourage him from the hard work it took to get to nationals. 

“Being named 11th felt good, but I know I could have been better. I know for sure that for 

outdoors I have even more motivation now to make  first-team All-America,” Stevic added. 

Stevic will rest and recoup to return to the track for the outdoor season’s LSU Battle on the Boot meet on Saturday March 25. The rest of the track and field squad will compete this Friday-Saturday (March 17-18) at the Louisiana Classics meet in Lafayette hosted by ULL.

“He operated well and we’ll learn from this. We will continue to grow for our next big competition – Texas Relays and then we’ll return to the national stage for outdoors,” Rheams added.

Track and Field’s head man was referring to the 95th Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays meet, scheduled from March 29 through April 1 Wednesday-Saturday. It is one of the biggest outdoor meets in the South hosted by Texas in Austin.