THIBODAUX, La. - The Nicholls State University cross country teams are set to travel to Montevallo, Alabama, to compete in the Blazer Classic for the first time. The meet will be hosted by the University of Alabama at Birmingham at the Alabama Traffic Safety Center on Friday.
 
The Women's Gold Race 6k will begin at 9:30 a.m. followed by the Men's Gold Race 8k at 10:15 a.m. Competing for the women will be sophomores Eleana Callejas and Joyce Kiplagat, as well as freshmen Lara Reifers, Faith Keter and Julia Garcia Verges. The men's group will consist of junior Teril Cooper and freshmen Cameron Carter, Daniel Figueroa, Jonathan Hernandez, Tyler Granger and Dustin Worley.
 
"Traveling six hours to Alabama gives us the opportunity to see an entire field of teams we have not competed against before. There are many top south region schools attending, so it will be a great pre-region test for our teams in terms of field size and level of competition but also a good opportunity to compete against different competitors," Nicholls head coach Stefanie Slekis said. 
 
The meet will mark the teams' first time racing the conference race distances of 6k and 8k this year and the five freshmen men's first-ever 8k.
 
"We have been training for these longer race distances since team training camp in August, so I am really looking forward to previewing the course Thursday with the teams, going over race plans and goals Thursday evening and having a strong competition Friday morning," Slekis said.
 
The meet is set to feature 24 teams, including Alabama, Alabama State, Birmingham Southern, Clark Atlanta, Columbus State (men), Florida A&M, Florida State, Lawson State CC, Marion Military Institute, Memphis, Mercer, North Alabama, Pearl River CC (women), Samford, Shorter, Southern Miss (women), South Alabama, Talladega College, Tennessee, Tennessee Tech, Troy, Tuskegee and UAB (women). 
 
Garcia Verges led the women for the third time this season at the Colonels' latest meet, the Lake Charles Toyota McNeese Cowboy Stampede, with a 5k run of 20 minutes, 13.6 seconds to earn a 26th-place finish. Hernandez spearheaded the men with a 22nd-place finish, running the 4-mile in 22:36.70.
 
To stay up to date with the Nicholls cross country squads, follow the teams on twitter @Nicholls_XCTF.