BATON ROUGE — The LSU cross country team has reached the most critical stage of its season, as both squads return to Indian Pines Golf Course in Auburn, Ala., for the Southeastern Conference Championships on Monday.
The men will open the event with an 8-kilometer race at 9 a.m., while the women will follow with a 6k race at 10 a.m.
The Tigers will try to back up their best finish in a decade a year ago when they placed fourth, while the Lady Tigers will try to improve upon last year’s 11th place finish.
“With our men’s squad, we definitely think we can be back in the top five which would be fantastic,” said LSU cross country coach Mark Elliott. “Arkansas is definitely the favorite once again, but I think after that, we can compete with just about anyone else for a spot in the top five.
“On the women’s side, Arkansas is also the clear favorite. I think we can put it all together and get into the mix to make a push at the top five. Susanne Strunz has been running very well, but it will be our third through fifth runners that likely determine where we finish as a team.”
Arkansas is the defending champion in both races. David Kimani of Alabama returns to defend his men’s title and will be challenged by LSU’s Likhaya Dayile, ninth place finisher a year ago. Dayile finished second to Kimani on the same course at the Auburn Invitational earlier in the year. Dayile will attempt to become the Tigers’ first top five individual finisher since Passmore Furusa in 1994.
Behind Dayile’s ninth place finish at last year’s SEC Championships, the Tigers were able to post a fourth place finish, their best result since finishing second in 1989.
Dayile will need the support of the solid middle corps of the lineup, including Jimmy Wiggins, Kenny Henry, Ryan Raiford and Tomario Thomas.
On the women’s side, Susanne Strunz will attempt to earn All-SEC honors for the second consecutive year. The senior finished 15th a year ago and will take aim at being the first Lady Tiger to crack the top 10 since Silje Rasmussen and Charlotte Mayock finished fourth and fifth respectively in 1996.
In addition, Marian Burnett, Katie Denton and Lindsay Daigle will all play critical roles for the Lady Tigers.
The Lady Tigers will try and crack the top five for only the third time in school history, joining the 1996 and 1999 squads.
Following the SEC Championships, both teams take next weekend off before traveling to Texas A&M on Nov. 10 for the NCAA South Central Regional with an NCAA Championship berth at stake.