BATON ROUGE — The LSU cross country faces its most difficult challenge to date Monday, as the men’s and women’s teams head to Tuscaloosa, Ala., for the Southeastern Conference Championships at Harry Pritchett Golf Course. The women will open with a six-kilometer race at 9:30 a.m., while the men will follow with an 8k run at 10:45 a.m.
The Tigers appear to have the guns to improve upon last year’s eighth-place finish, while the Lady Tigers will look to remain among the conference elite after finishing fourth a year ago.
“Arkansas will be the obvious favorite on the men’s side, but after them it’s up for grabs,” said LSU coach Mark Elliott. “Our men’s team has a very good shot to be in the top five. Florida and Alabama both have very formidable squads but I think we can compete with them. It will all be a matter of who gets it done on that day, there is no margin for error.”
The Tigers will look to build upon a strong performance on the same course last month, where they finished second at the Crimson Classic and were the top-finishing SEC team. The Tigers were paced by a sixth place finish by Likhaya Dayile, who figures to be one of the major contenders in the individual competition. LSU has not had a top 10 finisher in the individual competition since Passmore Furusa finished sixth in 1995. The Tigers have never had an SEC champion.
“Likhaya is one of about five athletes with a legitimate shot to win,” added Elliott. “His performance will be critical to our success. It’s been a few years since we went in with someone with a legitimate shot at contending for the title.”
The Lady Tigers finished fourth at the SEC Championships in Nashville last year, their highest finish ever, but have suffered at times this year due to injuries and departures from last year’s squad.
“On the women’s side, we lost a few people from last year’s team but we can be in the top six if everyone runs well,” said Elliott. “We’re going to have to run extremely well to make that happen. Arkansas is the clear
favorite on the women’s side as well, but Florida, Auburn and Alabama all bring solid teams to the field this weekend as well.”
The Lady Tigers have been paced by Bridget Cusack who has been LSU’s top finisher at the SEC Championships two of the last three years. Cusack finished 29th in 1997 as a freshman and 23rd in 1998. She has been the Lady Tigers’ top finisher in each of the meets she has competed in this season.
Following the SEC Championships, both squads will rest next weekend before competing in the NCAA South Central Regional Championships in Denton, Texas, on Nov. 11. LSU will be looking to qualify for the NCAA Championship field for the first time in school history.