BATON ROUGE — LSU’s men’s and women’s cross country teams will take on the best in conference Saturday when they travel to Fayetteville, Ark., for the SEC Championships.
The meet will be run at Agri Park with the women’s 6K race beginning at 9 a.m. and the men’s 8K race following at 10 a.m.
Both teams are looking to improve on their finishes from a year ago as the Tigers placed ninth and the Lady Tigers were 11th overall.
“Based on our performances from the season and the tough competition from within the conference I think we are aiming for a top-five finish on the men’s side and a top-six performance from the women,” said LSU cross country coach Mark Elliott. “Of course you always have lofty goals and would like to win, but I also feel you need to be realistic.”
Both the Tigers and Lady Tigers will have their hands full as three teams in each race are either ranked or receiving votes in the national polls.
For the men, host Arkansas leads the way with a No. 4 national ranking. The Razorbacks are followed by No. 20 Florida and Georgia, who is receiving votes in the latest poll.
On the women’s side Tennessee comes in as the top-billed team at No. 14 nationally, while Georgia and Arkansas are No. 17 and No. 20, respectively, this week.
The Tigers will look to senior Jimmy Wiggins to anchor the squad Saturday. The senior from Covington was led the Tigers to four straight top-four team finishes this season, including a win at the LSU Invitational, while recording three top-20 individual finishes.
“For the men this is the best group we have had in years,” said Elliott. “They are very competitive and ready to rock this weekend.”
The Lady Tigers will look to the senior duo of Katie Denton and Ruth Nanyinza to pace the squad. Denton has been LSU’s top finisher in the three of the four meets this season, while Nanyinza paced the Lady Tigers in the other.
“The women are a much better team than a year ago,” said Elliott. “They are still young but to finish among the top-six in the conference would be a great start for the future.”
Following the SEC Championships, both the men’s and women’s teams will take a weekend off before returning to action at the NCAA South Central Regional Championships in Waco, Texas on Nov. 13.