WACO, Texas — For the third straight year the LSU men’s and women’s cross country teams travel to Waco, Texas, for the NCAA South Central Regional Championships to be held Saturday morning at the Cottonwood Creek Golf Course.
The men will get action underway at 10 a.m. with a 10K race. The women will follow at 11:15 a.m. with a 6K run.
On the line will a berth to the NCAA Championships that will be held Monday, Nov. 21 in Terre Haute, Ind. The top two teams and the top four individuals, not on a qualifying team, from both the men’s and women’s races will automatically advance to the national meet.
Headlining the team competition is a pair of nationally ranked teams in both the men’s and women’s races. For the men, second-ranked Arkansas will be the team to beat as they compete for their 16th straight regional title. They will be challenged by Texas who enters the meet ranked 10th nationally.
On the women’s side, No. 19 Arkansas and No. 20 Baylor are expected to tussle for the top spot.
LSU looks to improve on its finishes from a year ago, when the men placed sixth and the women were 11th.
“I think on both sides we are looking for better finishes then we had at the conference meet,” said LSU cross country coach Mark Elliott. “The men’s race features two of the top teams in the nation, but I feel we have the ability to finish as high as third. For the women, realistically we are trying to finish out the season on a good note.”
The men will be led by senior Patrick Gavin who has paced the Tiger squad in three of the four races this season. He owns the Tigers’ top 10K time of the season, clocking 30:27.7, at the Chile Pepper Festival just under a month ago.
The women will look to senior Michelle Hymel to again lead the young squad. Hymel has been the Lady Tigers’ top finisher in each of the team’s last three races and has posted a season-best 6K time of 21:38.58.