BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s and women’s cross country teams open up the 2005 campaign Saturday when they travel to Albuquerque, N.M., for the Lobo Invitational at New Mexico’s North Golf Course.
Competition gets underway at 9:40 a.m. (CST) with the men’s 8K race. The women follow at 10:10 a.m. with a 6K run.
The collegiate field will feature some of the top talent in the region as Colorado State, Texas Tech, UTEP, New Mexico State and Division II powerhouses Adams State and Western State are all scheduled to appear.
“I think this team is eager to start competing,” said LSU cross country coach Mark Elliott. “Most of this team is from the New Orleans area and I know they are looking forward to things getting back to as close to normal as they can be at this time.”
The men’s team, which features eight runners from areas effected by Hurricane Katrina, returns four of its top-five performers from a year ago, in seniors Sam Mwape and Patrick Gavin, junior Drew Haro and sophomore Michael Hendry.
Gavin and Mwape battled back and forth as the Tigers’ No. 2 and No. 3 runners a year ago, as each posted top-35 finishes at both the SEC and NCAA South Central Regional Championships. They are expected to anchor the squad this season.
“I think the men’s team is just as strong or even better than they were a year ago,” said Elliott. “I feel we have five or six guys that are good runners, that have the opportunity to be very competitive this season.”
The Tigers are coming off one of their most successful seasons to date, recording top-four finishes at each of their regular season meets, including a win at their own LSU Invitational, before posting a pair of sixth-place showings at the SEC and regional championships.
The Lady Tigers are also coming off a solid 2004 campaign, but will be a young squad this year as they lost their two top runners, in Katie Denton and Ruth Nanyinza, to graduation.
“We lost Katie and Ruth so we enter the season as a really young team,” said Elliott. “These are all Louisiana kids that are making the transition to competition in this conference and I realize it is going to take some time. However, I look at it as a challenge to me as a coach to have them prepared and ready to run.”
The Lady Tigers will lean on the services of senior Michelle Hymel to pace the squad. She should be helped by juniors Jennifer Radecker and Erin Vandivort, and well as sophomores Lindsay Day and Megan Broussard.
“I think both teams are as ready as they can be at this time,” said Elliott. “Having been in Baton Rouge the last week we were very lucky with respects to Hurricane Katrina. We’ve had some problems with our flights, but we aren’t going to make any excuses. We are just ready to get out there and run.”