THIBODAUX, La - The Nicholls State University cross country teams are ready to cross state lines to travel to College Station, Texas, to race in the Arturo Barrios Invitational. The loaded meet is hosted by Texas A&M University, at Watts Cross Country Course, on Friday, Oct. 13. 

The 34-team race includes four other Southland conference teams, and 12 NCAA South Central Region ranked teams across both the men's and women's sides. The loaded field includes teams from all over the country, from all different regions such as the Midwest and the Northeast region. 

The Nicholls cross country team are coming off their most successful home meet in Nicholls XC Invitational history, with the women's side taking first place overall and the men's unit with a solid second-place finish. Across both races, the Colonels had 15 place in the top 20 of their respective races. 

Head Coach Stefanie Slekis shared her thoughts ahead of the upcoming meet. 

"It's an amazing opportunity for us because this is a meet where you see teams get regional ranked, this is where we've been able to go before on the women's side to beat teams in order to get ranked." 

Slekis also shared the biggest challenge for this young Colonel team. 

"Our biggest challenge as a young group will be running in a meet with so many teams. The number of schools competing is larger than what we face at the Regional Championship. The field size alone is phenomenal, so getting that experience of getting off the line with 300 to 400 people will be invaluable." 

Coach Slekis commented on her team's goal for the meet. 

"A big goal we've been working on is working together in small groups. In large meets like this, it's easy to feel lost because there is such a sea of people. Being able to find each other and work together is really big for us, especially for our top three, four and five on both sides (men's and women's)." 

UP NEXT 
After their trip down to College Station, the Colonels will get ready to head back to Texas for the Southland Conference XC Championships in San Antonio on Oct. 27. 

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