BATON ROUGE — The LSU cross country team welcomes a field of 11 teams to Highland Road Park on Saturday for the LSU Invitational, LSU’s lone home meet of the 2000 season. The women will kick things off with a six-kilometer run at 8 a.m., while the men will follow with a five-mile race at 9 a.m.
“This is a very good test for us on Saturday,” said LSU coach Mark Elliott. “This is our only opportunity this year to run at home and we certainly hope to use that advantage. Having a solid team like Tulane in the field will be a big challenge for our team.”
Tulane will be the most notable squad competing in the field this weekend. Tulane is ranked second in the NCAA South Central Regional rankings on the men’s side and eighth on the women’s side.
Other notable entries this weekend are McNeese State and UNO. McNeese is ranked fifth in the South Central Region in the women’s poll and ninth in the men’s, while UNO is ranked seventh in the women’s poll.
LSU is ranked 10th in the women’s poll, but the Lady Tigers are coming off a first place showing at the Popeye’s Ragin’ Cajun Invitational in Lafayette last weekend. The Lady Tigers will once again count on the tandem of Bridget Cusack and Susanne Strunz, who finished fifth and sixth respectively a week ago, to set the pace.
The Tigers will run a full squad on Saturday for only the second time this season. In their only other full squad outing, however, the Tigers finished second at the Crimson Classic in Alabama, a field loaded with Southeastern Conference talent.
Likhaya Dayile finished sixth at the Crimson Classic two weeks ago and will run for only the second time this season, as will Kenny Henry who placed 16th at the same meet.
A year ago at the LSU Invitational the Tigers placed second, while the Lady Tigers won the women’s title.
Other teams competing in the meet include UL-Lafayette, Southeastern Louisiana, Loyola (N.O.), Alcorn State, Xavier, Meridean Community College and West Florida.
Following the LSU Invitational, both the men’s and women’s teams will head to Auburn next Saturday for their second major SEC test, the Auburn Invitational.