COLLEGE STATION – McNeese Cross Country will run in its final meet before the Southland Conference championships on Friday when it takes part in the Arturo Barrios Invitational hosted by Texas A&M at the Dale Watts Cross Country Course.
 
The men will kick things off at 8:30 a.m. with an 8k race followed by a women's 6k race at 9:15.
 
More than 40 teams are expected to compete making it the largest Barrios Invitational A&M has ever hosted.
 
Included in the list of squads competing alongside McNeese and host Texas A&M will be Arkansas State, Baylor, Boston College, Connecticut, Eastern Michigan, Georgia Tech, Houston, Houston Christian, Incarnate Word, Indiana, Kennesaw State, Lamar, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisville, LSU, Marshall, New Mexico State, Nicholls, North Texas, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Rice, SMU, South Dakota State, Stephen F. Austin, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Texas A&M-Texarkana, TCU, Texas State, Texas Tech, Toledo, Tulane, UCF, UCLA, Utah Valley, UT Arlington, UTEP, UTRGV, UTSA and Youngstown State.
 
McNeese swept the men's and women's titles in its last time out when hosting the Lake Charles Toyota McNeese Cowboy Stampede on September 23.
 
Omer El-Fadl led the Cowboys with a first place finish in the 4-mile race with a time of 18:52.2. He was followed by Gilbert Kimutai (19:25.5) and Rolando Ortiz (19:45.7) who finished second and third. Also entered to compete for the Cowboys will be Abdullah Elkhair, Sullivan Hanna, Evans Kemboi, Kevin Kimaiyo, Jacob Kipkogei, Alex Martin, Obied Mohamed and Filippo Squassina.
 
For the Cowgirls, Marta Pascoa will lead a squad of eight entries. Pascoa captured the individual title at the Cowboy Stampede with a time of 17:42.9 in the 5k race. Joining her will be Jeny Barcenas, Irene Barreiro-Lopez, Ciara Gilroy, Sorcha Moloney, Jasmine Perez and Grace Sullivan.
 
The Cowboys are ranked No. 9 in the latest USTFCCCA South Central Region Top 15 poll while the Cowgirls are ranked 12^th.
 
McNeese will run at the SLC XC Championships on October 27 in San Antonio. Both the Cowboys and Cowgirls will get a good feel where they stand in league action with five other SLC schools entered in Friday's meet.