BEAUMONT, Texas—The season begins for both the men's and women's cross country teams as they head to the campus of Lamar on Friday for the Early Bird Opener at the Cris Quinn Soccer Complex.

The women will kick off the meet at 6:30 p.m., while the men will follow at 7 p.m.

In addition to NSU and host school Lamar, Houston, UL Lafayette and fellow Southland Conference school McNeese are also taking part in the meet.

"We're feeling pretty good," head coach Dillon Dawson said. "The first meet of the season kind of snuck up on us pretty quick, but we have had a pretty good past few weeks of training. I'm really excited to get this season started."

The men return six competitors, led by junior Payten Vidourek, who placed 24th with a personal best time of 19:34.9 in the 6k at the McNeese Season Opener last season.

Fellow returners Korbin Shumate and John Klein finished off the season a year ago on a high note with each posting a new personal best in the 8K of 26:47.0 and 26:54.0, respectively, at the Southland Conference championships.

"I am really excited about John Klein," Dawson said. "It looks like he really put his head down and worked hard this summer. I am expecting some of that work to come to fruition."

The trio is joined as returners by Kyle Lynn, Waylon Wright and Conner Mackie.

The Demon newcomers are freshmen brothers Brian Norton and Robert Norton.

On the women's side, NSU returns two athletes, junior Leah Thompson and sophomore Ceyda Bayur.

Thompson bested her personal best the 5k last season. She ran a PR of 21:04.0 in the 5k at the Lake Charles Toyota McNeese Cowboy Stampede before breaking that mark at the University of Arkansas Chile Pepper Festival with a time of 20:48.1.

"Leah dealt with a stress fracture last season, so she missed a good chunk of time," Dawson said. "She was finally able to get back to running this summer and worked really hard."

Having a bit of a late start to her career at NSU, Bayur competed in a single race, placing 22^nd in the 5k with a time of 21:55.0.

The duo is joined on the Lady Demons by freshmen Makaya Damon, Maryjane LeBlanc, Samantha Todaro and Lalaina Wood.

"At this first meet, I am not placing too high of expectations," Dawson said. "It is really just a rust buster, getting everyone back in the swing of racing. One thing I would like to see, though, is for us to get off to a better start this year than we did last year."

The men are coming off a ninth-place finish in the 2022 Southland Conference championships, while the women finished 10^th.

Following the meet, the teams head back to the state of Texas for the Rice Invitational on Sept. 8.