NATCHITOCHES—In the lone home cross country meet of the season, Andrew Kent recorded his first ever collegiate victory, highlighting a strong day at the NSU Demon Invitational.

Kent, a sophomore from Haughton, recorded a 20:57.3 to win the meet in the 6K.

While it wasn't a personal best for Kent, he did well in the heat at the home meet.

"It feels good to win the race," Kent said. "I want to thank God for helping me through that race. It was definitely amazing to win the race on my home course. I've been doing this for a long time and for me to get my first collegiate win is surreal and I feel ecstatic."

Tech had the next five finishers before Kaden Elliott finished in seventh place with a personal-best time of 21:46.1 after running a 22:14.4 at the NSU Pre-SLC Meet last season.

"I was very pleased with a lot of the kids' performances," head coach Alex Wills said. "Drew got his first collegiate win, which is big, so I was happy about that. And then Abby (Poche) getting second place in her second collegiate race ever; you can't be upset with that either."

Jack Pattillo (22:03.3) finished ninth, Kurt Kampert (23:16.6) came in 12^th, starting a run of four Demons in a row.

Mason Bayne (23:36.7) came in 13^th, Tyler Newland (25:05.1) placed 14^th and Owen Rue (25:34.2) placed 15^th.

Tech won the team battle for the men with 20 points and NSU finished with 40.

To begin the day, freshman Abby Poche placed second on the women's side in the 4K with a time of 16:20.8 to lead the Lady Demon runners. It is her second consecutive win in the meet for the NSU women.

Peyton Pirie was second among the Lady Demons, running an 18:07.3 to place 11^th, right in front of Andie Claire Woodhead, who finished 12^th with a time of 18:09.7.

Shelby Burgin clocked an 18:22.0 to come in 13^th in her first 4K race ever, and Crystal Godfrey (18:56.4) finished 15^th.

The women posted 44 points, which finished second to Tech, which won the team event with 19 points.

The cross country teams take a week off from outside competition to focus on themselves before heading back to Lake Charles for the Cowboy Stampede, the second pre-conference race NSU is going to in Lake Charles prior to going back to McNeese for the Southland Conference Championships.

"It's going to be good to get back to the training," Wills said. "We'll be able to hit more than just one speed workout for the week and so we will ramp up a little bit of mileage and the ones who needed it will get that recovery and then we get another crack at that course at McNeese before the conference championships."