@RaginCajunsTRK Preview: at Ted Nelson Invitational

LAFAYETTE – The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns track and field team officially opens its 2019 indoor season on Friday when heads west to College Station, Texas to compete at the Ted Nelson Invitational at the Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium.

Competition in the scored meet begins at noon with live results available at RaginCajuns.com.

Louisiana will be joined in the meet by Houston Baptist, Incarnate Word, Lamar, ULM, Louisiana Tech, McNeese State, New Mexico Junior College, Northwestern State, Prairie View A&M, Sam Houston State, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Texas A&M-Kingsville, Texas Southern, UT Rio Grande Valley, Huston-Tillotson and Western Texas College.

Two-time All-Sun Belt Conference Indoor performers Kyle Baudoin (pole vault) and Franz Beyer (heptathlon) return to lead a men's team that finished sixth at last year's SBC Indoor Championships.

Eighth-year head coach Lon Badeaux will also get his first chance to see 19 newcomers compete in their first meet, including Division I transfers Kalei Matthews (Arizona State) and Shalei Matthews (Kansas), freshmen Obdarius Ware (men's jumps), Key Alfred (men's distance), Rylan Theyard (men's jumps), John Joseph (men's jumps), Kaprecia Cowans (women's sprints), Lea Diedicke (women's multi events) and Reagann Leleux (women's pole vault) – the sister of 2016 All-American Morgann Leleux.

"The first meet is typically where you kick the rust off, but we have so many young athletes, it will be interesting to see what their competitiveness is," Badeaux said of the 2019 opener. "You get excited about a Reagann Leleux, who's a decorated athlete in the women's pole vault and you want to see how she can do.

"But even the young ones like our jumpers and sprinters, we have a bunch of newcomers (this year) and that will kind of dictate which way our season goes with how they do, but they are very talented. It might take us a little time to get there and this will be a good chance to evaluate where we're at."

Baudoin and Beyer are part of a veteran men's squad that also returns sprinter Kemondrick Walter, distance runners Stanley Limoh and Jonathan Kimutai, high jumper Damon Guidry and multi-events athlete Chandler Mixon.

"This is always a good indication of how competitive we'll be as a team because we will go against a lot of similar teams," Badeaux said. "It should give us a general bead on how good we are. It's just a totally different team. We do have some returners like Kemondrick (Walter), Franz (Beyer) and Stanley (Limoh). The times, early on, won't be overly fast, but this will be more of a comparison against everybody else as we progress into the season."

The meet for Louisiana is the first of five indoor events leading up to the Sun Belt Conference Indoor Championships, scheduled for Feb. 18-19 in Birmingham, Ala.

Follow the Ragin' Cajuns on Twitter (@RaginCajunsTRK), Facebook (Ragin' Cajuns TRK) or Instagram (@RaginCajunsTRK) to stay up-to-date on all that is happening with Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Track and Field/Cross Country.

@RaginCajunsTRK Preview: at Ted Nelson Invitational

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Players Mentioned

Key Alfred

Kyle Baudoin

Franz Beyer

Kaprecia Cowans

Damon Guidry

John Joseph

Jonathan Kimutai

Reagann Leleux

Stanley Limoh

Kalei Matthews

Shalei Matthews

Chandler Mixon

Rylan Theyard

Kemondrick Walter

Obdarius Ware

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