COLLEGE STATION, Texas – In the final meet of the regular season, the Nicholls State University cross country teams had nine runners' clock personal best times in the Arturo Barrios Invitational on Friday morning.
The Colonels competed against a loaded field of 39 other schools that included multiple ranked teams and seven Southland Conference opponents. The men's squad placed 37th while the women placed 39th.
Nicholls head coach
Stefanie Slekis gave her thoughts on the Colonels performance in the loaded field.
"I was very pleased with the individual improvement we saw for the majority of our team and the personal bests they each set on this course were substantial and our freshman took on their first 6k/8k very well," Slekis said. "This meet is more competitive than our NCAA South Central Region Championship and has a larger field size so it always serves as a great reminder of where we want to be as a program and where we can continue to level up as a team while still focusing on each individual on our team personally improving."
Slekis spoke about the importance of the next few weeks with the SLC Championship around the corner.
"The Southland Conference is looking very strong this year, but we're excited about how we can race in a smaller field of 12 teams at the championship in two weeks," Slekis said. "Although the majority of our team had exceptional days the men's and women's teams each had a key individual that didn't have their best day here, but if they can perform like they do in practice we also level up again as a team."
In addition to four personal bests by the men's squad the unit had four runners post top 20 program all-time marks in the 8K.
Lucas Futey 25:17.1 PB (#3 all-time Nicholls 8k performer)
Goran Duijsters 26:29.4 #7 all-time Nicholls 8k performer
Brady Sins Freshman 8k debut 26:37 (#8 all-time Nicholls 8k performer)
William Bellina PB 27:21.4 (#13 all-time Nicholls 8k performer)
Caleb Williams 8k debut 27:48
Alex Hartline PB 27:55
William Nizzo PB 28:17
Adam Gautreaux 8k debut 28:41
The women's squad posted five personal bests and three top 20 all-time marks in the 6K.
Maria Nikolaou PB 22:03 (#9 all-time 6k performer for Nicholls)
Issy Rivault PB 22:05 (#12 all-time 6k performer Nicholls)
Isabelle Seijhouwer PB 23:19 (#20 all-time 6k performer Nicholls)
Ana Letran Cartes 6k debut 23:25
Avery Guidry PB 23:59
Payton Theriot 24:14 debut
Daniela Bonvillain 6k debut 25:26
Kalynn Beacom 6k debut 25:36
Layla Ingalls PB 26:31
UP NEXT
The Red & Gray will compete in the 2024 Southland Conference Championship at Lake Oaks Park in New Orleans on Friday, Nov. 1.
