COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Following an incredibly successful run at the Nicholls XC Invitational -- the team's lone home meet of the campaign -- just two weeks ago, the Nicholls State University cross country program aims to close out pre-SLC Championship preparations with a strong showing at one of the region's premier late-season events: The Arturo Barrios Invitational, a 38-team clash hosted by Texas A&M University the morning of Saturday, Oct. 16 at the Dale Watts Cross Country Course in College Station, Texas.

WHAT: The Arturo Barrios Invitational
WHEN: Saturday, Oct. 16 | 9 a.m. (M); 9:45 a.m. (W)
WHERE: Dale Watts Cross Country Course | College Station, Texas
MEDIA: Meet Info | Live Results

With a such a strong field slated to compete in College Station -- 28 regionally-ranked squads between both the men's and women's programs -- combined with the fact the meet represents the first in-competition opportunity to race at championship distances (6k for women, 8k for men), Nicholls head cross country coach Stefanie Slekis anticipates the Arturo Barrios Invitational will serve as a meaningful marker for her entire team to utilize as final preparations are made heading into the upcoming Southland Conference Championships in late October.

"For both our men and women, this will be our first time competing this season at our Conference Championship race distances," Slekis said. "We have been building workouts this fall to prepare our men for the 8k race distance, especially our younger runners who will race their 8k debut. The older runners on our team have been building toward racing 10k at the South Central Region Championship a month from now so we should definitely see their strength over the 8k distance.

"For the women we have been preparing for the 6k distance since August. We have a large number of women who have raced 6k before and, due to their training and maturity, have been able to handle the volume and intensity of our ideal 6k training program the past two months. We have been working on pace change recently and I am excited to see how they handle the aggressive pace we will see at the start of such a large and competitive field. The top goal is competing well against the teams in our conference as well as any of the regionally ranked squads. Then we will take what we did well and what we can improve on to implement into individual and team race strategy for the conference championships just two weeks later."

The Arturo Barrios Invitational kicks off with the men's 8k at 9 a.m. before the women get underway just under an hour later with a 6k of their own.

ARTURO BARRIOS INVITATIONAL PARTICIPANTS
Texas A&M - Host (M 4th in South Central; W 3rd in South Central)
Nicholls
Abilene Christian (W 4th in South Central)
Baylor (W 14th in South Central)
Houston (W 13th in South Central)
Houston Baptist
Idaho State (W 14th in Mountain)
UIW (M 11th in South Central; W 10th in South Central)
Kansas City
Lamar (M 8th in South Central)
Lipscomb (M 7th in South; W 8th in South)
Louisiana
Louisville (M 7th in Southeast)
LSU (M 3rd in South Central; W 5th in South Central)
McNeese (M 9th in South Central; W 15th in South Central)
Middle Tennessee (M 6th in South; W 9th in South)
North Dakota
North Texas (M 5th in South Central)
Northwestern State
Prairie View A&M
Rice (W 7th in South Central)
Sam Houston (M 15th in South Central)
SMU (W 9th in South Central)
Stephen F. Austin
Tarleton State
TCU
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (M 12th in South Central; W 6th in South Central)
Texas A&M-Kingsville
Texas Southern
Texas State (M 13th in South Central)
Texas Tech (M 14th in Mountain)
Texas Wesleyan
UT-Arlington (W 11th in South Central)
UTRGV
UTEP (M 12th in Mountain)
UTSA
Western Texas College

UP NEXT
After wrapping up the regular season prep at Texas A&M, the Red & Gray shift focus to the highly-anticipated Southland Conference Cross Country Championships hosted by Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, slated for the morning of Friday, Oct. 29 in Corpus Christi, Texas.

STAY SOCIAL
For more information on Colonels Track & Field/Cross Country, follow the team on Twitter (@Nicholls_XCTF), Instagram (@nichollstfxc) and like their Facebook page (Nicholls Athletics).