BATON ROUGE—Following a pair of trips into the state of Texas, the Northwestern State cross country teams stay in-state for the LSU Invitational.

The third meet for the teams begins Friday at 8:15 a.m.

"One of the things we're really looking forward to is the past two meets have been run in the evening with some really warm conditions," head coach Dillon Dawson said. "So we're excited to get there early in the morning and hopefully get the races in before the heat."

It is the first appearance in Baton Rouge for the LSU Invitational since 2010.

"Last meet at Rice, I definitely saw a lot more improvement," Dawson said. "People were looking a lot more confident and they were more packed together well. So far, the teams have improved quite a bit and I am looking to see a bit more of that on Friday."

Ceyda Bayur has been the leader for NSU in both meets so far, earning the top finish for the teams in each meet, placing 37^th at Rice and 28^th at the season opener at Lamar.

In her first ever cross country meet as a collegiate runner, Lalaina Wood ran a 17:18.7 in the 4k to place 37^th and followed that up with a 18:11.3 to finish 57^th.

"I have been very pleased with how Lalaina has run," Dawson said. "This is her first year running cross country, so to see her piece things together in her first season has been very impressive."

In the season opener, senior Leah Thompson posted an NSU-best time of 16:12.6 at Lamar to open the season, which finished just behind Beyur for NSU and 32^nd overall.

On the men's side, John Klein ran a 19:37.2 in the 6k at Lamar and 17:57.0 in 5.2k in the Rice Invitational, placing 37^th and 51^st, pacing the Demons in both races.

Conner Mackie finished second in both races among Demons, running a 20:03.5 in the 6k at Lamar and followed that up with a 18:05.9 in the 5.2k at Rice in the second meet, placing 42^nd and 59^th, respectively.

Korbin Shumate has also impressed to start the season, as he has finished third out of Demons in both meets, placing 46^th at Lamar (20:31.49) and 77^th at Rice (18:18.3).

After the trip to LSU, the teams will be halfway through the cross country schedule. The Demons and Lady Demons remain in-state for the next meet with a trip to Lake Charles for the Lake Charles Toyota Cowboy Stampede.