ATHENS, Ga. — Behind leaders Jimmy Wiggins and Katie Denton the LSU men’s and women’s cross country teams posted ninth and 11th place finishes, respectively, Monday morning at the SEC Championships held at the UGA Golf Course.
Arkansas won its 31st consecutive conference crown and its 13 straight SEC title scoring just 33 points to win the men’s race. The Razorbacks were followed by host and runner-up Georgia, who finished with 58 points and Florida, who tallied 95 points. The Tigers finished with 241 team points.
On the women’s side, Tennessee (57) and Georgia (95) defeated Arkansas (103), winner of the last five straight women’s conference titles, to take home team gold and silver, respectively. The Lady Tigers were 11th with 319 points.
“We didn’t run as well as I expected,” said LSU cross country coach Mark Elliott. “The course was tough, but you can’t blame that. It just looked like some people weren’t really up to it today.”
In the men’s race, Kentucky’s Thomas Morgan was crowned the individual champion, running the 8K course in 24:59.25. For the fourth straight meet, junior Jimmy Wiggins was LSU’s top finisher. He clocked a time of 26:25.62 to finish 28th overall.
“Jimmy said he didn’t feel well today and the team tends to feed off of how Jimmy runs,” said Elliott. “If he runs well, the team tends to run better, but if he isn’t feeling quite right, the team picks up on that too.”
Wiggins was followed by sophomore Roland LeBlanc (27:25.33), junior Ben Shumaker (27:27.48), sophomore Andrew Huston (27:33.06) and junior Jarett Roche’ (27:44.85) who all scored for the Tigers.
The women’s race was won by Auburn’s Angela Homan. She finished the 6K course in 21:49.76, over six seconds faster then the nearest competitor. Junior Katie Denton was the first Lady Tiger to cross the finish line, finishing 44th with a time of 24:04.98.
“Katie ran well and I thought the effort from our middle group of runners was better today,” said Elliott.
Leading that middle group was sophomore Michelle Hymel, who finished second for LSU with a time of 25:02.22. Fellow sophomore Megan Kliebert (25:33.77), freshman Jennifer Radecker (25:38.48) and senior Katrine Flanders (26:10.25) rounded out the scoring for the Lady Tigers.
The LSU cross country team will take next weekend off as it preps for the NCAA Regional Championships to be run Nov. 15 in Waco, Texas.
2003 SEC Championships Results
MEN’S TEAM
1, Arkansas, 33. 2, Georgia, 58. 3, Florida, 95. 4, Alabama, 97. 5, Kentucky, 122. 6, Tennessee, 141. 7, Auburn, 178. 8, Mississippi State, 206. 9, LSU, 241. 10, Vanderbilt, 306. 11, Ole Miss, 346.
WOMEN’S TEAM
1, Tennessee, 57. 2, Georgia, 95. 3, Arkansas, 103. 4, Kentucky, 106. 5, Vanderbilt, 107. 6, Auburn, 111. 7, Mississippi State, 162. 8, Florida, 206. 9, Alabama, 230. 10, South Carolina, 254. 11, LSU, 319. 12, Ole Miss, 345.
MEN’S INDIVIDUAL (Winner plus all LSU finishers)
1, Morgan Thomas, UK, 24:59.25. 28, Jimmy Wiggins, 26:25.62. 50, Roland LeBlanc, 27:25.33. 52, Ben Shumaker, 27:27.48. 57, Andrew Huston, 27:33.51. 61, Jarett Roche’, 27:44.85. 68, Matt Carroll, 28:11.99. 76, Nick Accardo, 29:36.55. 78, Jace Gohres, 29:37.96.
WOMEN’S INDIVIDUAL (Winner plus all LSU finishers)
1, Angela Homan, Auburn, 21:49.76. 44, Katie Denton, 24:04.98. 64, Michelle Hymel, 25:02.22. 71, Megan Kliebert, 25:33.77. 73, Jennifer Radecker, 25:38.48. 78, Katrina Flanders, 26:10.25. 79, Sarah Colosimo, 26:15.17. 82, Katherine Accardo, 26:48.67. 85, Sarah Bailey, 27:26.72.