LAKE CHARLES – Following its 12^th place showing at the loaded Texas A&M Arturo Barrios Cross Country Invitational this past Saturday, the McNeese Cowboy cross country team jumped two spots to No. 9 in the latest USTFCCCA South Central Region Top 15 poll.
 
McNeese is the second-highest ranked Southland Conference team in the poll, trailing only UIW (No. 7). Texas tops the poll followed by Arkansas, Texas A&M, Tulane and Arkansas State to round out the top five. The next five includes Central Arkansas, UIW, UT Arlington, McNeese and New Orleans. Rounding out the poll is Baylor, Tarleton State, Stephen F. Austin, Lamar and LSU.
 
At the Texas A&M meet, McNeese finished seventh among the south central region teams in a field that included 40 squads.
 
Sophomore runner Gilbert Kimutai placed 37^th overall out of 360 individuals and was fifth among Southland Conference finishers. Evans Kemboi placed 48^th to give the Cowboys two top 50 finishes in the 8k race. Kemboi was the eighth SLC runner to complete the race.
 
The Cowboys will look to defend their Southland Conference championship on Friday, October 28 when they are joined by the Cowgirls in the Southland Conference Championships which will be run in Thibodaux.