NEW ORLEANS—After months of training and two months of competing, the meet has arrived.

The Northwestern State cross country teams head to the campus of the University of New Orleans for the Southland Conference championships on Friday.

The women kick off the morning with their race at 8:30 before the men start their's at 9:30. The races are being streamed on ESPN+.

Northwestern State has not competed against outside competition since taking part in the Watson Invitational at Mississippi College.

"I am feeling pretty good," head coach Payten Vidourek said. "We've been ridden with some injuries with some of our top runners. But overall, on the men's side, the freshmen are coming in pretty well. There has been a lot of progression the entire season, especially these past couple 8Ks. I've been really proud of them.

"It's the same on the women's side, working up to that 6K. They are prepared and will do the best they can."

As a senior, Leah Thompson has been one of the leaders on the women's side all season long.

Last time out, she ran a personal best with a time of 25:27.36 to place 66^th out of the 178 finishers and tops among Lady Demon runners.

"The biggest thing with running is that it is you vs. you," Vidourek said. "I want them to really be competitors. I was focusing on these past few weeks of not really racing against time, but more just racing against themselves.

"That is one thing we're looking to do because the course might not be fast, but this is the last big meet. We've got to go and put it all out there."

Two youngsters, Faith Bryant and Chesney Mathews, are improving each meet and are coming in with some confidence.

Bryant, a sophomore from Pineville, placed second among the Lady Demons with a time of 2:23.19 last time out.

Coming in third for the Lady Demons was Mathews, who clocked a 27:15.06 to finish 117^th at Mississippi College.

They are hoping Lalaina Wood comes back for the SLC meet after having missed the last few meets.

On the men's side, four freshmen ran at Mississippi College with Korbin Shumate nursing an injury.

The Demons were led by Owen Rue, who ran a 28:21.00 to place 128th out of the 221 runners in the 8k race.

Landon Loyd was the next Demon to finish, as he placed 135th, clocking a 28:31.80 in his first 8k of the season to prepare himself for the conference meet.

"One of the big things Leah (Thompson) and Korbin (Shumate) can teach the younger ones is about just staying composed," Vidourek said. "Whenever you get to those big races, you get a bit jittery. It is natural, it happens with everybody, but I think that is one thing that you just have to just go out there and run their own race and run smart and that is one thing I am trying to get to them as much as possible."

Following the championships, the teams take a break before joining with the rest of the track & field athletes for the start of indoor season in January.