LAFAYETTE The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns cross country team will return to action on Friday when it hosts the Ragin' Cajuns Invitational at Acadiana Park (1205 E. Alexander St).

Action will begin with the women's 5K race at 5:15 p.m., followed by the men's 8K race at 5:45. Louisiana will be joined in the meet by in-state schools Nicholls State, Northwestern State and New Orleans. The four-team meet will be the final tuneup for the Ragin' Cajuns prior to competing in the Sun Belt Conference Championships, scheduled for Nov. 1 in Atlanta, Ga.

"It's going to be a smaller meet and we want to keep it that way," head coach Lon Badeaux said. "We want to keep it less stressful and get everybody through. We have a full team and I want to see how we've progressed from two weeks ago. It'll give us a good chance to see where some of our key guys are really at. And it's more of a final prep heading into the (Sun Belt) conference meet."

Louisiana claimed its first individual title of the season on Oct. 6 at the ASICS McNeese Cowboy Stampede as the women's team placed five runners in the top 10 to claim first-place honors. The men's team earned a second-place finish in the five-team event with Beau Robinson pacing the Ragin' Cajuns with a third-place finish.

Courtney Musgrove paced the Ragin' Cajuns on the women's side after she crossed the finish line in 18:26.10 to finish third overall Louisiana with Anna Devitt (18:35.30) finishing fourth. Claire Hodges (18:38.00) placed fifth for the Ragin' Cajuns with Kelci Lyons (18:56.10) finishing seventh and freshman Hailey Hesterman (19:24.10) 10th.

"She's been the pleasant surprise this season," Badeaux said of Musgrove. "Kelci (Lyons) is really starting to come on. There's so much out there for the girls to achieve this year. It's really going to still have to come around to how Ashley (Irwin) catches up, but we're really deep. There chance to be successful is really good."

Robinson completed the men's four-mile race with a time of 20:27.10 to finish third overall in the race. Sean Bezdek (20:58.60) was 10th for the Ragin' Cajuns with Bryce Robinson (21:12.70) finishing 11th, Jacob Chicola (21:25.60) 12th, Trey Bonin (21:29.40) 13th, Dylan Heck (21:39.70) 14th, Corbett Ourso (21:40.80) 15th, Cole Stafford (22:00.10) and freshman Reagan LeMaire (23:49.10) 38th.

After missing the majority of the season with an injury, Matt Rice made his debut two weeks ago with an abbreviated performance in the men's race. The junior, who earned All-Sun Belt Conference honors last season, is expected to bolster a Ragin' Cajuns lineup that looks to improve off its best finish of the season.

"We're a lot closer to where we want to be," Badeaux said. "It's been hard this season. We've been playing from behind the whole season, especially on the men's side, and the results showed it. We still have three weeks to go and I like where the guys are finally getting to. I've always liked where the girls are at, but I want to see if they can even achieve further than where they're at."