Junior Rebekah Lawson has helped carry the Southeast Missouri State University women's cross country team to a first place finish in its first two meets this season.

Her hard work in the offseason was a huge reason why she finished first in both the Washington University Early Bird Meet in St. Louis as well as the SIU-Edwardsville Challenge.

Lawson spent 10 weeks in Tampa, Fla., with a campus outreach program, running in the morning and participating in Athletes in Training in the evening, where she swam or lifted weights.

"I don't really have any specific goals, I just want to go out knowing that I gave it all," Lawson said. "I just want to make my team better and make an impression on my teammates."

Southeast's cross country team began its 2013 campaign at Washington University on Aug. 31.

Southeast started its season with a first place finish for the women and a second place finish for the men.

Lawson posted her first-place finish in 14 minutes, 45 seconds in the women's 4k race and was named the Adidas OVC Female Runner of the Week after her performance.

"It's quite an honor, but you can't get too excited because it's still the beginning of the season and there are a lot of races left," Lawson said.

Junior Craig Munie, the only member of the men's team to place in the top 10, finished in fourth place in19:29. Freshmen Angela Sumner took third place (15:02), junior Mary Dohogne finished in eighth place (15:29) and senior Madalyn Stichnot was ninth (15:24) in the women's race.

Southeast won both team titles at SIUE. Lawson won the women's race in 17:59. Sumner, Stichnot, Dohogne, Melanie Lacey and Laura Chavez all finished in the top 10.

"I just want to go as fast as I can and give it my all," Lawson said before the meet.

Munie won the men's race in 25:14. Charles Johnson, Ryan Anderson and Shane Brown all finished in the top 10.

"Both teams ran exceptionally well today," Southeast coach Ryan Lane said in a press release. "I thought we made a big improvement from two weeks ago, and I am excited to see what we can do at our bigger meets later in the season."

The women's cross country team was picked to finish fifth in the Ohio Valley Conference preseason poll with 82 votes on Aug. 21 while the men's team was picked fourth with 95 votes.

"Being picked fourth on the men's side and fifth on the women's side gives us the opportunity to prove that we are better than that," Lane said in a press release. "Being the underdog will push us to work harder and be ready for the OVC Championships at the end of the season."

Southeast has just three regular-season races left before the OVC Championships on Nov. 2 in Morehead, Ken., and the NCAA Regionals on Nov. 16 in Ames, Iowa.