FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — LSU cross country standout Likhaya Dayile finished fourth in the men’s field at the Chilli Pepper Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark., Saturday, guiding the Tigers to an 11th place team finish. The Lady Tigers placed 20th in the women’s competition.
“I thought Likhaya looked fantastic today, that was an NCAA-caliber field and he more than held his own,” said LSU cross country coach Mark Elliott. “I’m pleased with the way our men’s team ran today, I thought our women could have placed higher.”
In his final outing before the SEC Championships on Oct. 29, Dayile finished fourth, negotiating the men’s 10-kilometer course in a time of 30 minutes 12.00 seconds. Daniel Lincoln of Arkansas won the event in a time of 29:52. Lincoln’s Razorbacks also won the men’s team title.
Jimmy Wiggins continued to develop into one of the Tigers’ more consistent runners and finished 47th, clocking a time of 31:44 on a very difficult course. Ryan Raiford placed 94th, followed by Tomario Thomas in 112th and Jarrett Roche’ in 127th to round out the Tigers’ top five runners.
Susanne Strunz led the Lady Tiger charge once again and came up with a strong outing, placing 23rd while finishing the women’s 6k course in a time of 22:15.
The Lady Tigers were dealt a difficult blow, however, when Lindsay Daigle, consistently their second or third runner all season long, could not finish the race. As a result, the Lady Tigers were forced to count a much lower finish to their team total.
Amy Mortimer of Kansas won the women’s individual competition in a blazing time of 20:56. Arkansas made it a sweep of the team titles, easily outdistancing runner-up Oklahoma State for the women’s team title.
LSU will take next weekend off before returning to action at the SEC Championships at Auburn on Oct. 29. The Tigers finished fourth a year ago, while the Lady Tigers placed 11th.