LAKE CHARLES, La. – The Nicholls State University cross country squads competed in the McNeese Cowboy Stampede Saturday at the Enos Derbonne Sports Complex.

Eight student-athletes set personal records for the Colonels, including Lucija Barac, Taylor Douglas and Courtney Troxclair on the women's side and all five men who competed.

"This was an excellent opportunity to see how we compared to four Southland Conference opponents - especially HBU and Northwestern State since we had not raced them yet," said head coach Stefanie Slekis. "I'm excited about the women competing against these teams in a month. I'm also looking forward to the men getting in some longer workouts geared towards racing 8K and 10K distances well before the championship portion of the season."

Senior Hannah Naquin led the women to a seventh-place overall finish, crossing the finish line in 29th place at 20:21.5. Freshman Eleana Callejas set a season-best by 44 seconds as she followed Naquin in 39th at 20:41.3.

Douglas (21:41.0 | 39th), Troxclair (21:44.3 | 48th) and Barac (23:41.1 | 60th) rounded out the women's squad.

The men managed a seventh-place finish as freshman John Paul Spera fronted the team for the third straight event. Spera finished 34th at 23:15.0. Following him were freshmen Trey Lowery (38th | 23:53.5) and Tristan Breaux (42nd | 25:43.4) and sophomores Teril Cooper (44th | 26:25.8) and Darryl Cooper (46th | 30:34.0).

Both teams move up in distance for the next meet, the Mississippi College Invitational on Oct. 14. The women will run a 6K beginning at 8:30 a.m. with the men's 8K following at 9:15.

To stay up to date with the Nicholls cross country squads, follow the teams on twitter @Nicholls_XCTF.