LAKE CHARLES—Lalaina Wood's impressive showing highlights Northwestern State's showing on Friday evening in the cross country opener at the McNeese Season Opener.

Wood clocked a personal best 11:52.16 in the 3K to pace the Lady Demons with an NSU-best 23^rd place finish out of 37 competitors.

"I am very proud of how the girls raced," first-year head coach Payten Vidourek said. "Lalaina showed true leadership with the way she ran today."

Finishing right behind Wood is senior Leah Thompson, who finished 25^th with a time of 12:32.39.

Chesney Mathews led the women's newcomers, placing 27^th, clocking a 13:01.75. Faith Bryant ran a 13:14.65 to place 29^th, Kallie Evers (15:00.16) came in 34^th and Brea Baca-White (15:35.38) placed right behind Evers in 35^th.

On the men's side, senior Korbin Shumate paced the pack, clocking a 16:12.80 in the men's 5k to finish in 24^th place out of 38 runners.

Owen Rue leads the men's newcomers, running a 17:30.58 to finish 29^th. He finished just ahead of fellow Demons newcomer Landon Loyd, who clocked a 17:38.08 to come in 30^th place.

Benjamin Brasseaux (18:06.06) placed 34^th in the race, while Kaden Elliot (18:08.68) placed 35^th and Mason Bayne (19:24.80) came in 37^th to round out the Demons finishers.

Considering the number of newcomers, specifically freshmen, Vidourek is happy with what he has seen and he knows the teams have a lot to build upon.

"Overall, I thought we opened the season very well," he said. "We did a lot of things well and we have a lot to look forward to for the next race in Houston."

NSU takes a week off before heading to the state of Texas for the Rice Invitational. It is the second race out of five as the groups prepare themselves for the Southland Conference Tournament, which takes place Nov. 1.