Courtesy of LA Tech Athletic Communications
Golf
Louisiana Tech saved its best for last Sunday, shooting a season-low six under as the team climbed three spots for a 12th-place finish at the Linger Longer Invitational.
LA Tech’s 282 was the sixth-best round three among a loaded field that featured nine teams ranked in the top 75 in the country. Helping the Bulldogs do that were three players who shot under par in the third round at the Great Waters Course at Reynolds Lake Oconee.
Anchoring the team in the final round was Abel Derksen. The sophomore put together his best round of the season, shooting five under (67). His round started off with a birdie on the opening hole No. 10. He would add two more birdies on No. 14 and No. 18 to shoot 33 on the back.
His momentum carried over to the front where he took advantage of both Par 5s by making birdies, plus a birdie on the Par 3 No. 4. It was nearly a bogey-free round for Derksen until a bogey on the final hole sent him to the clubhouse with a career-low 67, tied for the second lowest hole by a Bulldog this season.
Derksen would jump 49 spots to finish tied for 45th on the player leaderboard along with teammate Seth Campbell who shot three over 75 in round three. It was the lone scorecard over par used by LA Tech in the final round as Oskari Schuvalow and Morton Bailey both finished in the red.
Schuvalow capitalized on an eagle on the Par 5 No. 6 to shoot 69 while Bailey’s back nine that featured four birdies propelled him to a one under 71. Schuvalow was the top finisher for the Bulldogs, climbing 30 spots in round three to tie for 34th (73-75-69=217).
LA Tech was able to leapfrog Rutgers, UNC Greensboro, and Jacksonville. Georgia ran away with the team title, finishing 21 strokes ahead of second-place Alabama.
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Bowling
Louisiana Tech bowling registered a third-place finish at the Conference USA Bowling Championship after going 5-2 at Colonial Lanes in Harahan over the last four days.
The Bulldogs opened the tournament with a 2-1 victory over Sam Houston on Wednesday before falling to Nebraska, 2-1, on Thursday morning to move into the contenders bracket.
From there, LA Tech responded with four straight wins over the next three days. The Bulldogs took down Valparaiso 2-0 on Thursday afternoon, followed by a 2-1 win over Sacred Heart on Friday morning.
Tech continued its run with a 2-0 victory over Vanderbilt Friday afternoon and added a 2-0 win over Nebraska on Saturday morning.
The Bulldogs’ run came to an end Saturday afternoon in the match to advance to the championship, falling 2-1 to Arkansas State.
LA Tech now awaits the 2026 NCAA Bowling Selection Show, set for Wednesday, March 25 at 3 p.m. CT on NCAA.com.
The broadcast will reveal the 19-team field for the National Collegiate Women’s Bowling Championship, including 11 automatic qualifiers and eight at-large selections.
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Track and Field
The Louisiana Tech men’s and women’s track and field teams saw several strong performances on Saturday at the LSU Opener in Baton Rouge, posting 22 top-five finishes with 15 of those among the top three and two individual victories.
A’reil Williams secured a first-place finish in the women’s high jump, leaping 1.75 meters to record her sixth career jump of 1.75 meters or higher in an outdoor event. It was also her 10th career top-three outdoor finish.
The day was highlighted by Jamara Patterson’s performance in the women’s 400. She ran a time of 51.56 to set a new meet record and outdoor program record, along with securing an event win. She broke the meet record’s previous time of 52.13 that was set by LSU’s Amber Anning on April 9, 2022.
The outdoor program record she broke was previously set by Nina Gilbert in 2006, who ran a time of 52.34 at LA Tech’s home meet that season.
Both the men’s and women’s 4×100 relay saw top three finishes in their respective events as well. The women’s squad comprised of Praise Ofoku, Tyrica Sterrett, Jaitlyn Ware and Shayann Demeritte finished third with a time of 45.11
The men-comprised of Carl Murray IV, Abdulraof Oriade Rashid, Lukundo Kapambalala and Karo Oghomi-saw a runner-up finish clocking 39.64. Their time was good to tie the 10th-fastest time in outdoor program history.
Oscar Smith returned to the track, making his season debut in the 110-meter hurdles. The graduate ran a time of 13.71 to finish third.
Osaretin Joy Usenbor, Tyhra Charles and Nia Wiley rounded out the top five in the women’s 400, taking the third, fourth and fifth-place spots. Sabastian Bradley-Reed finished third in the men’s 400 with a time of 46.68, while Rickey Williams III finished fifth clocking 47.44.
Sterrett and Ware finished second and third in the women’s 100, while Oghomi and Madonna Favour also took second and third in the men’s 100. Two of Tech’s three javelin throwers also saw top three finishes. Annie Jones finished as the runner-up with a throw of 39.02 meters, and Zachary Drake finished in third for the men with a throw of 62.54 meters.
Ware and Oghomi each earned their second top-three individual finish of the meet, with Ware finishing second in the women’s 200 while Oghomi finished third in the men’s event.
Louisiana Tech is back in action for Baylor’s Clyde Hart Classic in Waco, Texas. The meet opens on Friday, March 27 and concludes on Saturday, March 28.
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Tennis
Louisiana Tech had its nine-match win streak come to an end Sunday as the Bulldogs fell 4-0 to 54th-ranked Rice at the George R. Brown Tennis Center.
LA Tech (12-3) struggled to find its rhythm from the outset, getting off to a slow and sluggish start that proved difficult to overcome. Rice (10-5) seized early control by winning the doubles point with victories on courts one and two.
That lack of momentum carried into singles play as the Owls won the first set on five of the six courts. Rice would ultimately win in straight sets on courts three, four, and five to clinch the match before the Bulldogs could mount a response.
LA Tech showed signs of life on a few courts, including a 6-3 first-set win by Zoie Epps against Darya Schwartzman at the No. 1 position. There was also Isabella Walker who was rallying back, one game away from forcing a third set against Ema Mravcova at the No. 6 spot prior to the match being abandoned.
LA Tech will be back in action on Saturday, March 28 when the Bulldogs play host to Texas State. First serve is set for 11 a.m. CT at the LA Tech Tennis Complex.
