NATCHITOCHES—When running in the conference meet to end the season, competitors would like to be running their best.

That is just what many runners did for Northwestern State at the Southland Conference Cross Country Championships, as many posted personal bests Friday morning on the campus of NSU.

Nine NSU athletes picked up personal bests in the final meet of the season and for John Klein and Korbin Shumate, their last cross country collegiate meets.

"We didn't do too bad," head coach Payten Vidourek said. "It was really nice to be on our home course, and it showed. We did have that home advantage a little bit. Overall, I was pleased with a lot of our athletes today."

Klein led the way throughout the season, so it comes as no surprise that he led the Demons once again.

The graduate student placed 60^th out of 99 competitors in the 8K race, clocking a personal-best 25:22.0.

"It felt really nice to end my career on a PR," Klein said. "I hope I set a good precedent for the younger guys in the program. I am hoping they can attack that time next year and we see it go down."

After missing the entire season up to this point, Shumate came back for one final race as a senior to cap off his collegiate cross country season.

He ran a personal-best 26:02.70 to finished 71^st and second of the Demons.

"I was really nervous, with this being my only race of the season," Shumate said. "Not knowing where I was race-wise really was hitting my nerves, but this morning I was really confident with it, and I woke up knowing I was going to go out there and attack it with it being my last cross country race."

Competing in his first conference championships, freshman Andrew Kent clocked a 27:41.90 to finish 89^th and Mason Bayne posted a personal-best 27:43.70 to come in 90^th.

Freshman Selton Sanders also ran a personal best with a time of 29:57.60, while Owen Rue (28:55.10) and Kaden Elliott (29:41.30) finished just ahead of Sanders.

Nathan Kapel (22:54.80) of Stephen F. Austin took the crown, as the Lumberjacks swept the podium on the men's side.

NSU finished 11^th out of 12 with a score of 334, while SFA took the top spot in the team scores.

On the women's side, Wood ran a personal-best 24:07.00 to finish 63^rd in the 6K in the to lead the Lady Demons runners.

It was her first conference race in two seasons after missing most of the 2024 cross country season due to injury.

"It felt great to go out there and PR by 21 seconds," Wood said. "I kind of expected a PR considering it's conference and we were at home and have the advantage. It was great to be able to get another PR and end the season how I wanted to."

Gracie Evers clocked an 81^st, running a 29:32.50 to finish 81^st.

Thea Ring (35:26.40), Cherie Neal (35:30.90), Mikayla Mondello (37:10.90) and Teodora Samac (37:12.10) all ran personal bests to place 83^rd through 86^th overall.

Elizabeth Khatevi (19:44.40) of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi finished first to lead the way on the women's race. The Islanders took three of the top four spots.

Stephen F. Austin's Valentine Jemutai (20:17.90) took home the silver.

The Lady Demons finished 12^th out of 12 teams to score 351 points with the lower score being better.

SFA won the overall men's team title with 36 points, just three points ahead of AMCC, who came in second.

Next up is the track season for many of the cross country runners, as they begin the indoor track season in January.