LAKE CHARLES—Leah Thompson led the way for the Northwestern State women's cross country team at the McNeese Cowboy Invitational on Saturday morning.

Thompson, a senior from DeRidder, clocked a 20:18.5 to place 46th at the meet out of 65 finishers.

On their way to Lake Charles, their bus broke down and they arrived 15 minutes prior to the start of the race.

Head coach Payten Vidourek was pleased with the races after having to deal with the bus issues on the way to the meet.

"I think we performed rather well, all things considered" he said. "We had the bus issue which caused us to get to the meet only 15 minutes before it started, but we made it work. They all ran faster times within the 5K race, so there was improvement.

The Lady Demons finished seventh in the team competition.

Faith Bryant ran a 21:57.8 to place 54^th and finish second among the Lady Demon runners. Two spots behind was the third Lady Demon, Chesney Mathews, who ran a 22:36.5 to finish 56^th.

"Overall, I am satisfied with how Faith and Chesney performed," Vidourek said. "Faith was a bit sluggish to begin but picked it up as the race went on. I think the sluggish start was due to her not having her normal warm-up with the bus breaking down."

Samantha Todaro finished 58^th in the meet, running a 23:18.3 to place fourth among the Northwestern State runners.

Gracie Evers finished 60^th in the field, running a 23:43.1 in the 5K.

Rounding out the Lady Demons was Brea Baca-White, who placed 62nd in the field. The sophomore ran a 24:34.5 in her third meet at Northwestern State.

Both the men and the women's cross country teams are back in action at the Mook 4 Invitational on the campus of Louisiana Tech on Oct. 5.