NEW ORLEANS – After a solid showing at Saturday's Texas A&M Arturo Barrios Invitational with a seventh place showing, the McNeese Cowboy cross country team climbed one spot to No. 8 in this week's USTFCCCA South Central Region poll.
 
The Cowgirls, who ranked 15^th last week, dropped out of the rankings following this past weekend's meet.
 
Led by Gideon Cheplak with an individual finish in 16^th place, the Cowboys were the top squad in the Southland Conference to finish while also placing ahead of six other teams ranked in three different regional polls.
 
Arkansas leads the South Central Region poll and is followed by Texas, North Texas, LSU and Texas A&M to round out the top five.
 
The Cowboys and Cowgirls will be back in action on October 29 when they run in the Southland Conference Cross Country Championships at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
 
USTFCCCA Men's South Central Region Poll
1, Arkansas; 2, Texas; 3, North Texas; 4, LSU; 5, Texas A&M; 6, Rice; 7, New Orleans; 8, McNeese; 9, Lamar; 10, Central Arkansas; 11, Incarnate Word; 12, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi; 13, Abilene Christian; 14, Sam Houston; t15, Baylor; t15, Arkansas State.