BATON ROUGE — The LSU cross country team hits the road once again this weekend, as both squads travel to the Auburn Invitational at Indian Pines Golf Course on Saturday, the course that will be the site of the 2001 Southeastern Conference Championships in October.
The men will open with an 8-kilometer run at 8:30 a.m., while the women will follow with a 5k race at 9:30.
With Indian Pines being the site of the SEC Championships, the field will be laced with the top SEC programs. In addition Texas A&M, Florida State and Western Kentucky will be among the other top non-SEC programs on hand Saturday to round out a field that annually draws nearly 40 programs from the Southeast.
“This is a great opportunity for us to see where we are on a conference level,” said LSU cross country coach Mark Elliott. “There’s always a great field at Auburn and with the SEC Championships being here next month, it will only be tougher this year. It’s a chance for us to really turn it up a notch and see how our top runners compare to the rest of the league and how our team depth across the board matches up.”
The Lady Tigers finished 13th at Auburn a year ago, led by a 26th place finish from top runner Susanne Strunz. The senior from Germany opened her 2001 season in fine fashion last Saturday with a third place finish at the New Mexico Lobo Invitational.
The men did not compete at Auburn last year, but figure to make their mark this year behind returning NCAA qualifier Likhaya Dayile. Dayile made his season debut last weekend in New Mexico and looked particularly sharp, placing second in the men’s individual competition.
Both the men’s and women’s squads have finished third in each of their first two meets of the season.
Following the Auburn Invitational, LSU returns home next Saturday for its only home competition of the 2001 season. The LSU Invitational will be held at Highland Road Park in Baton Rouge on Oct. 6 with the women running at 8:30 and the men running at 9:15 a.m.