CLINTON, Miss.—Following a two-week break from outside competition, the Northwestern State cross country teams gear up for one more meet at the Watson Cross Country Classic prior to the Southland Conference Championships.

NSU travels to the campus of Mississippi Christian on Friday, as the men's 8K begins at 8 a.m. and women's 6K starts at 8:45 a.m.

Both distances are the ones each team is running at conference, so head coach Alex Wills pushed them during these three weeks to prepare them for this meet.

"We were able to get a lot of good, high-intensity workouts in," Wills said. "We had some hard workouts where the athletes were pushing themselves further than they've been in race competitions. We had some guys and girls last Friday who were hitting lifetime PRs. We were trying to push them harder than it would be in some of these race situations, so it doesn't shock the body as much."

Each runner on the two teams has improved since the beginning of the summer, but the two constants at the top for each team during races have been Abby Poche on the women's side and Andrew Kent on the men's.

Kent, a Parkway High product, has come in first for the Demons in every race and is coming off a 21:38.2 in the 4-meter run at the Cowboy Stampede on Sept. 26.

At the home meet this season, Kent ran a 20:57.3 to earn his first victory of his collegiate career.

Kaden Elliott has had a strong season as well on the men's side, as he is coming off a showing at McNeese where he finished right behind Kent in the 4-meter run, finishing 35^th.

He ran a 21:58.2 in the Cowboy Stampede after coming off a seventh-place finish in the 6K at the NSU Demon Invitation, clocking a 21:46.1, posting a personal best as a junior.

Elliott has posted a personal best in all three meets he has competed in this cross country season.

Poche, a product of Buckeye High, leads a group of seven freshmen on the Lady Demons. She finished 22^nd last time out in the 5K at McNeese, running a time of 18:43.6. She also placed second at the home meet in the 4K, clocking a 16:20.8.

Andie Claire Woodhead continued a strong first season at NSU last time out with a time of 20:19.2 to finish 32^nd.

"First and foremost, we want to come out healthy and with more experience," Wills said. "It's a very young team on both sides. We don't have a senior on the men's side, either, and a few guys coming back from injuries as well, like Owen (Rue) and Tyler (Newland). This will be the first time they can really start pushing themselves and getting ready to go 100 percent for conference. Just getting out of it healthy and gaining more experience are the big focuses at this meet."

Following the trip to Mississippi, the teams are off to the SLC Championships on Oct. 30 at the Enos Derbonne Sports Complex for the third time on the campus of McNeese.