THIBODAUX, La. – After a week off, the Nicholls State University men's and women's cross country teams head to Lake Charles for the 2013 Southland Conference Cross Country Championships at the Ward 3 Rec Complex and hosted by McNeese State University Friday morning.

The women will kick things off at 8:30 a.m., covering a 6K course while the men will begin at 9:30 a.m. and will run an 8K course. The Nicholls women will be looking to improve upon its seventh place finish from a season ago, while the men will be looking to place highly as well.

After another solid regular season, the Colonels head into the championships with a wealth of confidence after running well at the Choctaw Open two weeks ago. The Colonels were paced by junior runners Tessni Carruthers and Sebie O'Neill, as Carruthers took home the individual crown by winning the women's race and pushing the team to a second place finish, while O'Neill set a new personal best time in the 8K discipline to finish eighth overall and third among Division I collegians as the men finished sixth among Division I teams.

Carruthers earned her second title of the season at the meet, finishing with a time of 18:16.78, claiming first by nearly five seconds over Amy Talbot of McNeese State, while Sarah Pressley finished third with her time of 19:02.66. For her efforts, Carruthers earned the final Southland Conference Cross Country Women's Athlete of the Week award.

Nicholls claimed three top ten finishes on the day, as Jackie White, in her first action of the year, finished eighth overall clocking in with a time of 19:38.01

O'Neill finished eighth with his time of 27:10.07, smoking his old personal best time by nearly 16 seconds. Jake Lee finished 13th and was the seventh collegiate runner to finish the 8K course in 27:45.40.

Emily Charlesworth and Ashley Johnson were the last two Nicholls runners to finish in the top 25, as Charlesworth crossed the finish line 20:39.61 while Johnson finished in 20:58.23 to place 20th and 24th overall, respectively.