CLINTON, Miss. – After a week off from competition the Nicholls State University cross country team will travel to Clinton, Mississippi and Fayetteville, Arkansas to take on the Watson Ford Invitational and Chile Pepper Invitational this weekend.
 
In their most recent competition, the Colonels had a strong showing at the LSU Invitational in Baton Rouge, led by Tessni Carruthers. Carruthers had another outstanding performance, finishing fourth in a field of 48 competitors with a time of 18:35.88. Ashley Johnson registered a time of 20:04.41, placing 15^th overall and Hannah Naquin came in 23^rd with a time of 21:22.37.
 
Sebie O'Neill led the Nicholls men with a 19^th place finish and a time of 16:42.97.
 
The Watson Ford Invitational hosted by Mississippi College will begin at 4:30 p.m. on Friday. The college women's 6k event begins at 4:30 p.m. with the college men's 8k event scheduled to begin at 5:15 p.m.
 
The college teams competing on Friday include: Alcorn State, Belhaven, Blue Mountain, Centenary (LA), East Texas Baptist, Grambling, Hinds CC, Jackson State, Jarvis Christian, LeMoyne-Owen, Louisiana College, Louisiana Tech, Loyola-New Orleans, Meridian CC, Millsaps, Mississippi College, Mississippi Valley State, New Orleans, Nicholls State, North Alabama, Rust, Southeastern Louisiana, South Alabama, Southern, Southwestern Assemblies of God, Stillman, Tougaloo, Texas-Dallas, Texas-Tyler, West Alabama and Wiley.
 
The Chile Pepper Invitational hosted by the Chile Pepper Running Club, gets underway at 9:45 a.m. with the men's 8K race and is to be proceeded by the women's 5K run at 10:20 a.m. on the University of Arkansas' Agri Park course.  Following the conclusion of both collegiate races, an awards ceremony will be held beginning at 11:10 a.m.
 
The Chile Pepper Festival meet will feature over 80 schools, including 11 regionally-ranked women's teams and 10 men's regionally-ranked teams not to mention a handful of Sun Belt Conference member institutions.
 
Visit geauxcolonels.com for the most up-to-date information on Nicholls cross country.