HAMMOND, La. – The course may be unfamiliar but not the competition for Southeastern Louisiana junior Clarissa Smith Friday at the Southland Conference Cross Country Championships.
  
    The meet is scheduled for Pecan Acres Park in Nacogdoches, Texas, near the campus of Stephen F. Austin. The men's 8-kilometer race is set for 8:30 a.m., followed by the women's 6-kilometer race at 9:30 a.m. Live streaming and results, via the Southland Conference, can be accessed at the Southeastern cross country schedule page at www.LionSports.net.
  
    This will be the third cross country championships for Smith, who placed 39^th as a freshman in 2014 in 23 minutes, 1.9 seconds and 49^th in 2015 (23:53.3). She also ran in the 3,000 steeplechase at the Southland Outdoor Track Championships in 2015 and '16 and in the 3,000 in the Indoor Championships this past season.
  
    "I've seen a lot of the girls over the track and cross country seasons, so I know what they are capable of," the Holden, Louisiana native said. "I know that I am way better this season than the past two seasons, so I'm ready to go out there and see what I've got against all the normal competition."
  
    Smith and the Southeastern squads will face a solid field on Friday. Five Southland men's teams enter championship weekend ranked in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Men's South Central Region poll. Lamar leads the way at No. 6, followed by Stephen F. Austin at No. 7, A&M-Corpus Christi at No. 8, McNeese at No. 10 and Central Arkansas at No. 15.
  
    On the women's side, three teams are ranked in the most recent South Central regional poll, with Stephen F. Austin at No. 6, Lamar at No. 14 and A&M-Corpus Christi at No. 15.
  
    "They always do," Smith said of the conference having nationally-ranked runners. "The Southland Conference may not have big schools but they are pretty good competition."
  
    Smith leads a group of six who will compete at the conference meet. She comes in having placed in the top 10 in four of her five meets in 2016, including a second-place overall finish at the Mississippi College Choctaw Open on Oct. 15. Her 6K time of 18:46.3 was more than 30 seconds faster than her winning time at the meet in 2015, the third time this season she bettered a time from the previous season by more than 30 seconds. She has also been named honorable mention Southland Women's Cross Country Athlete of the Week three times.
  
    Smith credited the new training techniques of Southeastern coach Rocky Capello for the improvement.
  
    "He definitely has worked on keeping a steady pace and not going out too fast," Smith said. "It's definitely dropped my times and I've had really good workouts."
  
    Also scheduled to run for the Lady Lions are junior Allie Stone, sophomores Amber Ferguson and Dalina Dahlmans and freshmen Lill-Ann Hochkeppler and Sydney Bodie. Stone placed 20^th (20:57.3) at the Choctaw Open while Ferguson was 23^rd (21:16.0). Hochkeppler, competing in her first collegiate meet, took 27^th (21:33.5), while Bodie was 48th (26:51.4). Ferguson was also 72^nd at the Southland Championships as a freshman in 2015.
  
    The Southeastern men have had a run of solid finishes in 2016 with top-four finishes in all five meets, including a win at the season-opening New Orleans Invitational and a third-place finish at the Choctaw Open. Scheduled to compete for the Lions on Friday are senior Stephen Cassingham; junior Alex Holden; sophomores Salvatore Grizzaffi, Brett Olivier and Trevor Johnson; and freshmen Grant O'Callaghan, Ben Vasterling and Bryant White.

    O'Callaghan led the Lions at the Choctaw Open with a 20^th-place finish (27:18.35). Cassingham (22^nd, 27:22.67) and Grizzaffi (25^th, 27:35.30) also had top-25 times. Vasterling was the Southland Men's Cross Country Athlete of the Week after running the best time at the New Orleans Invitational. Olivier, Cassingham, White and Grizzaffi all had top-20 finishes at the McNeese Cowboy Stampede.
  
    Cassingham is the Lions' leading returning finisher from last season's league meet, having come in 63^rd. Grizzaffi was 72^nd while Johnson took 76^th.
  
    Both the Lions and Lady Lions finished 10^th at the conference championships in 2015, but head coach Sean Brady believes his squad has the potential to make a jump in the standings this year.
  
    "I want to see us at our best because I think we are ready this year to do something special," Brady said. "I think because of the way they have trained and the work ethic this group has, the close-knit group that they are, they are going to fight for each other and we're going to beat some teams. The main goal is to get everybody to be at their best on the day. If we are at our best and everybody PRs, then I will just let the chips fall where they may. We can only control what we can and when our kids do that, we can walk away very happy."