RUSTON – The Northwestern State cross country teams completed the Louisiana Tech Mook Four Triple-Duals on Saturday, where head coach Chris Sauer was very impressed with the effort of his women's team in the 4k event.

The Lady Demons swept the team results (27 points), beating out Louisiana Tech (29), ULM (29) and Grambling (44) to win all three scoring categories.
 
"I was really pleased with how the women ran, as we placed three girls within the top seven," Sauer said. "Nearly every girl was competing well with the girls near them, so if we can tighten up a few things here and there, I think we will be in a good spot."
 
Senior Erin Wrozek was once again the leader for the Lady Demons, finishing fourth overall (16:18) one week after taking first in the ULM Invite in the first meet of the season.
 
Another pleasant surprise for Sauer was Emily Sitarz finishing sixth with a time of 16:44.
 
"Emily is so much farther ahead than she was last year," Sauer said. "This year, she is keeping pace with competitors that, quite frankly, would have been out of her league last year."
 
In redshirt junior Jacqueline Rushford's first action in nearly two years after battling various injuries, she was able to post a time of 17:00 minutes to take seventh, which was the third-best finish for the Lady Demons at Tech Farm.
 
Others lining up for the women's team was sophomore Emily Heard (11^th, 17:45), freshman Isabella Hudson (12^th, 17:45), freshman Sasha Ballard (17^th, 18:36), freshman Hannah Heidebrecht (19^th, 18:43), and Atianna Parks (22^nd, 19:36).
 
On the men's side, it was returning senior and member of the Louisiana Sports Writers Associations All-Louisiana Cross Country Collegiate team, Joshua Wilkins who led the way with an eighth-place finish (21:43).
 
The Demons, as a whole, finished fourth in the six-team event with a score of 87. Junior transfer Brandon Lewis-Graham contributed in his return to Louisiana Tech, notching a 10^th-place finish (21:56).
 
"While we beat last year's average at this race by almost two full minutes, I still feel like the men's race was a bit disappointing," Sauer said. "I say that because I think a lot of our runners left more on the table than we wanted."
 
Others putting up points for the Demons were freshman Darius Groves (15^th, 22:22), freshman Blake Cantrell (27^th, 23:15), freshman Hayden Robertson (37^th, 24:28) senior Grant Butts (38^th, 24:33), junior Dylan Dunford (40^th, 24:53), freshman Denim Reeves (43^rd, 25:34), sophomore Jacob Hammons (46^th, 26:27), freshman Tyler Courville (48^th, 27:32) and senior Tyler Corwin (51^st, 31:31).

Northwestern State returns to action in Lake Charles, LA, for the McNeese Cowboy Stampede on Saturday, Sept. 30 at 9:15 a.m.