Men’s Team Results
Men’s Individual Results
Women’s Team Results
Women’s individual Results
BATON ROUGE — The Tulane Green Wave entered Saturday’s LSU Invitational cross country meet with lofty expectations and justified those expectations, sweeping the team titles at Highland Road Park in Baton Rouge. McNeese State finished second in both competitions, while host LSU finished third in both races.
LSU’s Likhaya Dayile picked up a decisive victory in the men’s race, while Sita Waru of McNeese claimed the title in the women’s race.
Tulane entered the men’s competition ranked second in the NCAA South Central Regional rankings, yet McNeese and LSU proved that the gap between the schools is much closer, as only five points separated the three teams.
“The men’s competition was very close and I think all three teams showed that they’re very capable of getting into the mix in the South Central Region,” said LSU coach Mark Elliott. “Tulane is ranked second and McNeese ninth, we came in unranked but I think proved that we are a very competitive team today.”
Tulane won with 44 points, while McNeese finished a single point back at 45 and LSU finished with 49. SLU was a distant fourth with 105 points.
Dayile won the event by a comfortable margin, completing the men’s five-mile course in a time of 24 minutes 56.94 seconds. Solomon Kandie of Tulane finished second in a time of 25:08.95.
Kenny Henry finished ninth, followed by Jeffrey Wiggins in 12th, Ryan Raiford in 13th, Billy Bohlke in 14th and Brent Martin in 17th to round out LSU’s five scorers.
The women’s race was another close battle between Tulane and McNeese. McNeese entered ranked higher in the region, holding the fifth spot, while Tulane was ranked eighth. The Green Wave won the battle between the two schools on Saturday, however, taking the top spot with 39 points, while McNeese finished with 46. LSU was a distant third with 73 points.
Waru of McNeese completed the women’s six-kilometer course in a time of 20:46.88. Bridget Cusack was LSU’s top finisher, placing eighth while completing the course in 22:20.83.
Susanne Strunz placed 10th, followed by Megan Szmajda in 16th, Jenni Johnson in 18th and Niki Driscoll in 37th to pace the Lady Tigers.
LSU will now set its sites on a pair of crucial tests leading up to the Southeastern Conference Championships. LSU travels to Auburn next Saturday, followed by a trip to Arkansas the following weekend before heading to the SEC Championships at Alabama on Oct. 30.