THIBODAUX - With the most successful cross country season in school history in the books, the Nicholls State University men's and women's cross country teams will look to begin the 2010 season by picking up where the 2009 squads left off.

"We had a very good season last year," head coach Scott Williamson said. "Our cross country teams did things that had never been done before at Nicholls, and we have a chance to be even better this season."

The 2009 Colonel women's team led the way for the programs.  The Nicholls women's squad earned the school's first ever regional ranking, climbing as high as No. 11 in the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association South Central Regional regular season rankings.  Lauren Jones was named to the 2009 All-Louisiana team and became the first Colonel runner ever to be named All-Southland Conference in cross country. 

The Nicholls women's squad capped the year with a sixth-place finish at the 2009 Southland Conference Cross Country Championships, the best finish in school history and a 12th place finish in their first ever appearance at the NCAA South Central Regional Championship meet.

Meanwhile, the Colonel men's squad showed continued progress throughout the season, culminating with personal records for every member of the squad at the Southland Conference championships.

This season, the Colonels will kick off the 2010 campaign by visiting Lake Charles on September 3 for the season opening McNeese Relays.  After sitting out competition for two weeks, the Colonels return to action on Sept. 18 with a visit to the Crimson Classic hosted by the University of Alabama.  The Tuscaloosa meet promises to be one of the premier cross country events in the region in 2010 and will give Nicholls a chance to run against one of their deepest fields of the season.

Nicholls faces a quick turnaround, however, as the Colonels return to action the next week at the Gulf Coast Stampede hosted by the University of West Florida in Pensacola on Sept 25.  After another extended layoff, the Colonels will head to the Mississippi College/Watson Ford Invitational in Clinton, Miss. on Oct. 16 in their final pre-conference meet tune up.

Nicholls begins its postseason schedule on Oct. 28 by looking for another record finish at the 2009 Southland Conference Championships.  This year's meet is slated to take place in Beaumont, Texas, home of Lamar University.

Should everything go according to plan, the Colonels will build on their first NCAA postseason meet by making their second consecutive trip to the 2010 NCAA South Central Region Championships hosted by Baylor University in Waco, Texas.

"We have a mix of some very competitive meets, and some training meets that are designed to let us focus on training and making sure we peak at the right time," Williamson said.  "The McNeese meet is a good way for us to line up against some other conference teams early and guage where we are at.  We'll then get to work on what we need to get better and get stronger in the two weeks before the Alabama meet, where we will get to see how we stack up against a lot of the better teams in the south.  The Mississippi College and Gulf Coast meets are meant more to allow us to fine tune the things we are trying to work on so that we know we are peaking at the right time, which, for us, is the conference meet."