LAKE CHARLES—Ceyda Bayur once again led the charge, placing 11^th at the Lake Charles Toyota Cowboy Stampede in the fourth cross country meet of the season.

Bayur, a sophomore from Eskieshir, Turkey, ran a collegiate best with a 19:10.51 in the 5k, much improved from her previous best in the event at LSU last week in which she ran a 20:30.4. She finished 11^th out of 63 finishers.
She has led the Lady Demons in each meet so far.

Leah Thompson also continued a strong performance this fall, also posting a collegiate best in the 5k, running a 20:10.44 to place 26th, besting her time of 20:48.1 that she ran in 2022 at the Chile Pepper XC Festival.

"I was really happy with today's results from both the men and women," head coach Dillon Dawson said. "I felt that everyone ran smart and confident. We are off from racing for the next couple weeks, so it was nice to see nearly all positive things heading into this next block of training as we gear up for the next meet in a few weeks."

Samantha Todaro also shattered a collegiate best with a 22:25.42 to place 45^th. The freshman's previous best in the 5k was 24:00.6, set at LSU last week.

The women only raced three, so they didn't qualify for the team score. Host McNeese dominated with a 21, placing three of the top four and five of the top seven.

The NSU men finished seventh out of eight teams. McNeese also dominated with a score of 26, placing four of the top seven.

To make the score, the places of top five finishers from each school are added together.

Like Bayur on the women's side, John Klein has led the Demons throughout the season.

Klein ran a 21:27.37 in the 4-mile race to place 21^st out of 58 finishers.

Korbin Shumate (22:03.26) and Conner Mackie (22:21.75) finished back-to-back, placing 31^st and 32^nd, respectively.

Brian Norton placed 40^th with a time of 22:54.41 and was followed among Demons by his brother Robert Norton, who placed 46^th, clocking a 23:45.07.

Waylon Wright finished in 57^th place, clocking a 26:29.42 for the Demons.

After a week off, the cross country teams head to Texas A&M on Oct. 13 in their last meet prior to the Southland Conference Championships in San Antonio on Oct. 27.