CLINTON, Miss. – The Southeastern Louisiana University cross country squad returns to action Saturday at the Choctaw Open.

“We're going into this as training for the conference championship,” distance coach Brent Alfred said. “We'll be without Heather Fitzhenry and Joseph LeGrange, so that will hopefully encourage some of the younger athletes to step it up.”

Mississippi College will host the meet at Choctaw Trails. The college women's 5K begins at 8:30 a.m. and the college men's 8K starts 30 minutes later.

“It's a nice course with a field of smaller schools so the playing field should be fairly level,” Alfred said. “If we do well or don't, we're looking at certain things to comeout of this meet that will prepare us for the Southland meet.”

Southeastern will be one of 26 schools, including Louisiana Tech, Nicholls State, South Alabama and Southern, participating in the collegiate competition.

The Southland Conference Championships are scheduled for Oct. 26 in Beaumont, Texas.