Sam Houston heads to the Southland Conference cross country championships Thursday in Beaumont, Texas at the Bayou Din Golf Club. The women's 6-kilometer race will begin at 9 a.m. and the men's 8-kilometer race will follow at 9:45 a.m.

The Lamar men's team is looking for its fifth consecutive Southland title and the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi women's team will try for its fourth straight trophy.

The Bearkat women's team will be led by freshmen Alyssa Dooley and juniors Molly Farrell, Victoria Gemeny and Sara Collazos.

After a shaky start to the season at the Morriss Invitational, the Bearkats have put together impressive performances at the Memphis Twilight Classic and at the Houston Baptist Invitational. In Houston, SHSU's top four women competitors finished within nine seconds of each other and paced the team to a runner-up finish.

Also competing for the Bearkats on Thursday will be sophomores Crystal Santos and Kylie Fitzgerald along with freshmen Kimberly Brooks.

"I've been excited about the way the women have been running over the past month," Sam Houston distance coach Jesse Parker said. "Their workouts have been getting better every week and we have been seeing the results in races. If we are going to do well as a team, it's going to take all of the girls working together throughout the race."

A&M-Corpus Christi sophomore BreAnna Briggs returns to lead the Islanders for a possible record-setting fourth consecutive cross country championship. Briggs, who finished 10th in the 6k race (21:40) in last year's event, will attempt to become just the second Islander to finish first in the women's championship following former teammate Anne Ronoh in 2009.

The Bearkat men are led by a pair of sophomores, Patrick Krol and Clint Anders. The two have alternated leading the Bearkats with Krol being the top runner at the Morriss Invitational and the HBU Invitational while Clint was the top performer at the Memphis Twilight Classic. Rounding out the top 5 for the Bearkats are freshmen Patrick Pitts and Ryan Saam along with senior Travis Kocurek.

"Krol and Clint have been running well most of the season," Parker said. "They've both been consistent in their training. Both are middle distance runners by trade and it has taken them a while to adjust to the longer racing distances in cross country."

Five of the top-10 men's finishers from the 2009 championships return including McNeese State senior Joshua Sawe. Seven of the top-10 women's runners return from last season to compete in the 6k run. UTSA junior Kayla Pratt is the top returning runner, having finished second last season with a time of 20:51.