LAKE CHARLES-- The Northwestern State cross country teams both finished in fifth place in a 14-team field with nearly 100 competitors per gender Saturday at the MSU Cowboy Stampede at the Enos Derbonne Sports Complex. 
 
The Demons again claimed the fifth spot in Lake Charles much like they did back on Aug. 31 at the McNeese Season Opener, while the Lady Demons were only five points away from knocking off fourth-place Prairie View A&M.
 
"It was a good result from a race that was far from perfect," said NSU coach Chris Sauer. "We aren't walking away from it celebrating, but we can take a lot of positives out of it. We definitely know where our fixes need to be made."
 
Brandon Lewis Graham led NSU with a 12^th-place effort (99 runners) in the four-mile run with a time of 21:57.5. The senior was followed by Darius Groves (33^rd, 22:55.4), Cody Robinson (35^th, 22:58.6), Yannik Gerland (40^th, 23:12.8), and Clay Casner (43^rd, 23:25.8).   
 
"Our top guys struggled a little," Sauer said. "The conditions were tough, but they were tough for every team. Regardless, we wanted to be closer to the top five.
"Our three through seven (runners) had their best meet since I've been coaching here. They hung onto each other in the hard sections and pushed when they had openings. Once all the pieces come together on the same day, we're going to have something great happen."
 
Thomas Daigle (23:36.6), Blake Cantrell (23:53.5), Andrew Robinson (23:57.4), and Alex Melcer (24:04.0) all finished but did not record points for the Demons.  
 
The Lady Demons were again led by Isabella Hudson in 20^th place with a time of 19:49.2 in the 5000-meter run. The sophomore continues to lead a very young group, having finished as the team's top runner in all three meets.  
 
"Izzy is so great to rely on. The girls all use her in a race to gauge where they should be," said Sauer. "The fact that she improved by 22 places from last year in a much bigger and deeper field is always nice to point to when girls are coming through the program."
 
Also scoring for the women was Emily Heard (23^rd, 20:07.4), Kirstin Elrod (34^th , 20:34.3), Emily Blanchard (39^th,  20:43.6), and Jasmine Dansby (55^th, 21:31.7).
 
Jade Talazac (22:05.3) and Christina Gilbert (23:26.7) did not score points. 
 
Texas A&M Corpus Christi dominated the men's and women's side, housing three of the top five finishers, the women's individual champion, and swept both runs as a team. In similar fashion, McNeese claimed second place for both genders.  
 
The teams will wrap up the regular season on Oct. 13 in Clinton, Mississippi, at the Mississippi College invitational before heading back to Lake Charles for the Southland Conference Championships on Oct. 26.