BEAUMONT, Texas—Ceyda Bayur and Leah Thompson led the way for the Northwestern State cross country teams at the Early Bird Opener on Friday, the first meet of the season.

Bayur finished 28^th out of 40 participants in the women's 4k (15:34.11), leading the charge for NSU, while Thompson finished close behind in 32^nd (16:12.54).

Both the women and the men finished fifth out of five teams in the field. The women finished with a score of 141. McNeese eeked out a victory with 45 points, just finishing ahead of Houston's 46 points. The top five scores are calculated with the lower score being better.

The men finished with a score of 154. Houston dominated with a score of just 30, finishing with three of the top five finishers.

Lalaina Wood ran a 17:18.61 in her first race with NSU, coming in 37^th. She led a quartet of Lady Demons, as she was proceeded by Makaya Damon (18:10.36), Samantha Todaro (18:19.15) and Mary Jane Leblac (20:08.44).

On the men's side, John Klein paced the squad with a 37^th place finish (19:37.15) out of 51 participants in the 6k. Conner Mackie finished just behind Klein, placing 42^nd with a 20:03.41.

Korbin Shumate finished 46^th with a time of 20:31.49 and the Norton brothers finished back-to-back, as Brian Norton (21:24.58) placed 49^th and Robert Norton (22:02.42) took 50^th.

Next up for the cross country teams is Sept. 8 as the teams head back to the state of Texas as they participate in the Rice Invitational.