NATCHITOCHES – McNeese's men's and women's cross country teams can make claim as Louisiana State Champions at the 2025 Southland Conference XC Championships on Friday as both were the first Louisiana teams in the league to place in the overall standings.
 
The Cowgirls finished fifth overall with 157 points while the Cowboys were sixth overall with 178 points.
 
On the women's side, senior runner Jeny Barcenas led the Cowgirls with a 10^th place individual finish after running a 21:35.60 in the 6k race. Other Cowgirl finishes saw Elsa Moore place 30^th at 22:39.90, Sheila Kipruto (36^th, 23:10.20), Rylee Challenor (38^th, 23:13.20), Danielle Salinas (44^th, 23:18.20), Grace French (50^th, 23:30.0), Edyn Hill (52^nd, 23:33.90), and Uxue Castro-Martin (55^th, 23:41.70).
 
Stephen F. Austin won the women's team championship with 36 points, edging out Texas A&M-Corpus Christi with 39 points. UTRGV placed third with 65 then was followed by UIW (4^th, 136), McNeese (5^th, 157), New Orleans (6^th, 185), HCU (7^th, 187), Lamar (8^th, 207), Nicholls (9^th, 225), East Texas A&M (10^th, 254), Southeastern (11^th, 318), Northwestern State (12^th, 351).
 
On the men's side, the Cowboys collected 178 points, right behind UTRGV who finished fifth with 173. SFA finished off the double sweep with 20 points while TAMUCC placed second with 52. UIW was third with 67 points then Lamar (130), UTRGV (173), McNeese (178), East Texas A&M (192), HCU (199), New Orleans (221), Nicholls (332), Northwestern State (334), and Southeastern (344).
 
Ryan McCarthy was the top Cowboy to cross the finish line in 29^th place and a time of 24:17.60 in the 8k race. Gregory Martin was close behind in 31^st place at 24:23.20 and Sullivan Hanna placed 36^th at 24:39.50. Other Cowboy finishers included: Kevin Kimaiyo (50^th, 25:09.60), Samuel Serrano Borrego (53^rd, 25:11.90), Nathan Waller (25:20.40), Owen Kirkland (25:42.60), James Boutte (78^th, 26:20.80), and Abdallah Elkhair (86^th, 27:24.10).