HAMMOND, La. -- Despite enduring innumerous trials and hardships -- including a time-altered start date and a shortened season -- over the past year, the Nicholls State University cross country program continued its consistent upward trajectory behind yet-another significant year-to-year improvement at the Southland Conference Cross Country Championships, earning eighth overall on the women's side along with 12th-place showing for the men Sunday morning on Southeastern Louisiana's campus in Hammond, La.

With the competition officially moved to a hard road surface -- versus the usual soft surfaces of cross country -- due to the recent inclement weather conditions within the region, most runners saw dramatic reductions on their career-best times. For Elsa Rijpstra, the top finisher for the Colonels over the course of this season, the rule applied in spades, as the sophomore clocked a 6k personal record 21:23.22 for an eighth individual finish, the program's highest placement since 2012. Meanwhile, freshman Megan Nevlud logged another impressive showing, grabbing 32nd overall to place seven ranks better than the Red & Gray's fastest runner from just a year ago.

"Elsa did a really great job following our race plan, which was to put herself in the front group and give herself an opportunity to finish inside that top five," Slekis said. "To go out there and run confidently right in the front group through the whole first lap really says a lot about her as a competitor, and she fought really hard to finish eighth. I'm really proud of her. And she really raised a lot of that same spirit in Megan, even though she's just a freshman. Megan's ultimate goal was to put herself in a position where, if she had the best day ever, she could be all-conference, even though we knew on paper that was a real tough ask. She went out there and finished faster than our best runner did last year."

Junior Lara Reifers along with senior Eleana Callejas put together competitive outings as they secured 46th and 56th, respectively, before sophomore Skyler Goodman rounded out the Red & Gray scoring runners at 62nd. Notably, however, Nicholls' sixth and seventh runners -- Augusta Marie Christensen and Emily Blanchard -- made their presence felt at 64th and 66th, outpacing many scoring runners from opposing squads in order to protect the Colonel flank.

On the final team scoreboard, the women wrapped up the meet with 204 total points, good for eighth out of the 12 competing programs, with reigning champion Central Arkansas edging out Abilene Christian for a second-straight title. Compared to last year, the Colonels only advanced one placement, but Slekis denoted just how much of a shift that move represents for this program.

"I think it's a huge improvement for our women's team even though we only moved up one place, to go from ninth to eighth," Slekis continued. "It's kind of an exceedingly better eighth, if that makes sense, with Elsa being right up in the mix. Megan finishing that well is another great sign, and then a big improvement for Lara and Eleana. Depth-wise, though, is what I'm really excited about, as one of the things we're really proud of is that Augusta and Emily, who ran numbers six and seven for us, I talked to them about how important it is that they can push other people's runners back to help solidify those wins against those who might be creeping up on us. For the record, those two beat the fifth runner from all four teams behind us, which really helped us on the final leaderboard."

On the men's side, the Red & Gray opted to put a team out on the course despite missing two of their primary scoring runners. Once again, sophomore Olari Livingston set the pace for the Colonels, notching 40th for the best individual placement for the program since 2004. Senior Caleb Calderon slid in at 66th and sophomore Octavio Vasquez-Tilley captured 76th before freshmen Alex Keller and Dustin Wager closed out the Nicholls scoring at 78th and 80th, respectively.

For the final team scoring, the Colonels ranked 12th in a field of 12 programs, finishing the day with 340 points while rival Southeastern Louisiana demolished the field for a solid first-place victory, outpacing the nearest team by almost 70 points.

UP NEXT
With the SLC Championships concluded, cross country student-athletes will join their fellow Colonels on the indoor track & field squad, which coincidentally competes at the Southland Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships beginning this upcoming Sunday, Feb. 28 in Birmingham, Ala.

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