LAKE CHARLES—The Northwestern State men's and women's cross country teams don't have to travel too far when starting the season.

The Demons and Lady Demons travel to McNeese for the McNeese Season Opener on Friday. The women run at 5:30 p.m. while the men start at 6 p.m.

It is the first of two trips to Lake Charles during the season, and the first of five cross country meets during the season before hosting the Southland Conference Championship.

"In the first meet of the year, we never have really too high of standards," head coach Payten Vidourek said. "We call it a rust-buster. The team hasn't competed since last May, so we have about four or five months since our last race. We're just trying to knock the rust off."

Three schools are competing in the meet, as NSU is joined by host school McNeese as well as Southern.

After a strong start to the cross country season last year, Lalaina Wood was hurt early in the season and missed a majority of the season. Wood competed in two meets as a sophomore, clocking a season-best 11:52.2 in the 3K at the McNeese Opener to finish 23rd and placed 37th in the 4K at the Rice Invitational, running a 16:26.7.

"I think Lalaina is going to do great," Vidourek said. "She's had a lot of good momentum coming from the track season and now it's time for a cross country race to see if she can build on that."

The junior from Oak Ridge is back to lead the charge for a new group of Lady Demon distance runners. Wood is one of two members back on the team this season, as she is joined by fellow junior Gracie Evers as the lone women's returners.

Evers ran a season-best 15:00.2 in the 3K at the McNeese Opener on the same course last season to place 34^th. She also clocked a season-best at McNeese in the 5K, running a 23:43.1 at the McNeese Cowboy Stampede.

The lone freshman on the women's side is Abigail Boullion, who comes to Natchitoches from Crowley, by way of Northside Christian School.

On the men's side, five Demons return, led by fifth-year veterans Korbin Shumate and John Klein.

Shumate ran four races for NSU a season ago, as his season was highlighted by placing 22nd with a season-best time of 27:42.2 in the 8K at the Mook 4 Invitational.

After taking the cross country season off in 2024, Klein is back as one of the leaders of a young group in which five of the seven runners are either freshman or sophomores.

Mason Bayne, Kaden Elliott and Owen Rue return from the 2024 team and it gains a pair of freshman in Selton Sanders and Andrew Kent.

"With John and Korbin being on the older side, they have done really well at taking these younger guys under their wing," Vidourek said.

Following the meet, NSU travels to the state of Texas for the first and only time during the cross country schedule when it heads to Tyler for the UT-Tyler Cross Country Opener.