THIBODAUX, La. – The Nicholls State University men's and women's cross-country teams will begin the 2026 season at the Battle For New Orleans hosted by LSU New Orleans and Tulane. The action from Lake Oaks Park will start with the women's 4K at 5:15 p.m. followed by the men's 5K at 5:45 p.m.
Nicholls will be competing against Dillard, LSU, South Alabama, Southeastern, Xavier (La.), LSU New Orleans, and Tulane in the third annual Battle For New Orleans.
The Colonels women's squad welcomes back 13 runners while adding three to the fold. The men's unit returns nine runners while adding six.
Last year, the men's team finished in the Battle for New Orleans in sixth place out of nine total teams. All of the top five scorers return as
Brady Sins led the men's charge in the 5K as he placed 23rd overall with a time of 15:47.05. He was followed up by
William Nizzo (16:25.02) and
Mason Heffernan (16.26.49) who finished 38th and 39th.
Alex Hartline was the fifth Colonel to score as he finished 57th with a time of 17:24.04.
The Red & Gray's women have four of their top finishers back as in last season's race Isabelle Seijhouwer was the first Colonel to cross the finish line with a time of 14:35.04. She was followed by
Kassidy Besson (15:19.32),
Ana Letran Cartes (15:29.26),
Lotte Aerts (15:37.56), and Kailin Baratka (15:48.47) who placed 46th, 50th, 53rd, and 57th to round out the Red & Gray scoring.
Nicholls head coach
Stefanie Slekis is excited about the new season in New Orleans again.
"We are excited to head back to New Orleans for our opener," Slekis said. "It always is a strong competition and a perfect opportunity to get a check in where our fitness is."
Slekis also spoke about how the distance can help her and the team check their progress and see what they need to do moving forward.
"Racing a 4k for the women and 5k for the men after training together the past 3 weeks is the perfect opportunity for us to be aggressive and press to see where our fitness is for race pace as we work toward our goal race paces for later this season," Slekis said. "We still have another big month of training ahead and are excited with where our training groups are and where we can be for championship race distance 6 weeks from now."
