HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana men's cross country team moved into the USTFCCCA South Central Region Coaches Rankings for the first time this week.

    The Lions will have an opportunity to move up those rankings when they take on a strong field at the Texas A&M Invitational Saturday at the Dale Watts Cross Country Course in College Station, Texas.

    The men's 8,000-meter race is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m., followed by the women's 6,000 at 8:45 a.m. A link to live results will be accessible on the Southeastern cross country schedule page at www.LionSports.net.

    Southeastern is ranked 14^th in the South Central Region following a victory at the LSU Invitational this past Saturday, the Lions' first team win in a non-relay event since 2014. They will be competing in a field that features eight other programs in the top 15 in the region - No. 3 UT Arlington, No. 4 Texas A&M, No. 6 Lamar, No. 7 Rice, No. 8 Texas State, No. 11 Louisiana-Lafayette, No. 12 McNeese and No. 13 Houston.

    Also scheduled to compete are Central Arkansas, LSU, Prairie View A&M, Sam Houston State, Texas A&M-Kingsville, TCU and Texas Wesleyan.

    The Lady Lions, coming off a fourth-place finish at LSU, will be going against five ranked teams in No. 6 Texas A&M, No. 7 Rice, No. 8 TCU, No. 11 North Texas and No. 13 Lamar. They will be joined by Central Arkansas, Houston, LSU, Louisiana-Lafayette, McNeese, Prairie View, Sam Houston State, Southeastern Oklahoma, Texas A&M-Kingsville, Texas State and UT Arlington.

    Scheduled to run for the Southeastern men are junior Brett Olivier, sophomores Grant O'Callaghan and Bryant White and freshmen Reed Callegan, Anthony Cordero and Adam Cortez. Competing for the Lady Lions will be freshmen Breanna Bernard, Sophie Daigle, Lindsey Hutcheson, Lydia Pevey and Tara Stuntz.
 
MEET NOTES
   Southeastern placed three runners in the top five and five in the top 20 scoring positions in the men's race at LSU.
 
   Cortez received honorable mention Southland Conference Athlete of the Week recognition after placing second for the second straight meet to open his Lion career.
 
   Cordero had his second-straight top-10 finish in taking third while O'Callaghan was fifth. Olivier (11^th) and White (20^th scoring, 21^st overall) both finished in the top 20 for the second time in 2017.
 
   Stuntz was an honorable mention Southland Athlete of the Week selection for the second time this season after leading the Lady Lions with a ninth-place finish at LSU. She has two top-10 finishes on the year.
 
   Daigle took 12^th in the scoring race and 13^th overall, her second-straight top-15 finish. Bernard just missed her second top-20 finish after coming in 21^st.
 
   Former Southeastern track and field head coach Sean Brady is now the assistant coach for jumps and multi-events at Texas A&M.
  
QUOTES
Southeastern head coach Rocky Capello:
   "On the men's side, the meet will feature nine of the top 15 teams in the region and on the women's side, five of the top 15. Racing so many quality programs gives us an opportunity to prove that we are among the top teams in the south. Training has gone well the last few days but the kids are a little tired. Hopefully their legs are fresh by Saturday. If so, I think we may be able to beat several teams ranked ahead of us and continue to rise in the rankings."
 
UP NEXT
    Southeastern is scheduled to compete in the McNeese Cowboy Stampede on Sept. 30 in Lake Charles, La.