LAFAYETTE The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns cross country team will compete in their second meet of the season when they travel to Houston to compete in the 40th annual Rice Invitational on Friday at the Rice Intramural Fields.

The women's race begins at 6:15 p.m. with the men's race scheduled for approximately 6:45.

The Louisiana men's team, ranked No. 14 in the USTFCCA South Central Region Preseason Poll, will be one of six ranked teams in the field joining No. 4 Lamar, No. 8 McNeese State, No. 9 Rice, No. 10 Houston and No. 13 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Rounding out the men's field is Houston Baptist, Incarnate Word, Prairie View A&M, Texas A&M International, Texas Southern, Texas State and UT Rio Grande Valley.

The Louisiana women's team will face a field that includes South Central Region ranked Rice (No. 6) and Lamar (No. 8). Also competing in the women's event is Houston, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Houston Baptist, Incarnate Word, Prairie View, Texas A&M International, Texas Southern, Texas State and UT Rio Grande Valley.

The Ragin' Cajuns opened the season last week at the McNeese Cross Country Relay. The Louisiana women's team, paced by Courtney Musgrove and freshman Hailey Hesterman, earned a sweep in the four-team meet earning dual victories over host McNeese State, LSU and Southeastern Louisiana.

Musgrove and Hesterman earned a third-place finish in the event, covering the course in 21:02.4 with Anna Devitt and Kelci Lyons finishing fourth overall in 21:16.3. Claire Hodges and Lindsay LaGarde earned a sixth-place finish for Louisiana, crossing the line in 22:15.3 with Courtney Broussard and Julianna Brooks completing the race in 23:51.8.

Beau Robinson and Christian Bergeron paced the Ragin' Cajuns men's team, which earned a dual victory over SLU, after posting a time of 26:11.7 to finish fifth overall. Jacob Chicola and Bryce Robinson finished in seventh place for the Ragin' Cajuns, covering the course in 26:56.0. Dylan Heck and Trey Bonin (27:17.2) finished ninth overall for Louisiana with John-Paul Bergeron and Cole Stafford (29:07.6) finishing 13th.