AUBURN, Ala. — The LSU cross country team turned in a solid performance Saturday morning as the women placed sixth and the men finished seventh at the highly competitive Auburn Invitational on the Indian Pines Golf Course.
No. 15-ranked Iowa won the women’s team competition scoring a near perfect 16 points as all five of their scoring runners finished in the top six. Stephen F. Austin claimed the men’s team title with 45 points.
“Across the board the women ran extremely well,” said LSU cross country coach Mark Elliott. “Actually I think based on the group we had running this is best I have ever seen a women’s team finish at a big cross country meet.”
The Lady Tigers finished the day with 192 points as all five of their scoring runners finished among the top one-third of the field.
Junior Megan Broussard led all Lady Tigers, posting a personal best 5K time of 17:54.09 to finish 23rd overall.
Rachael Graham, the reigning SEC Women’s Runner of the Week, was LSU’s No. 2 finisher, placing 28th with a time of 18:01.68.
“Megan really stepped up and ran a huge PR today and Rachael just continues to run extremely consistently,” said Elliott on the efforts of his top-two finishers.
Others scoring for the Lady Tigers included juniors Lindsay Day (49th, 18:25.32) and Christy Zirkle (50th, 18:25.65) and sophomore Jennifer Stark (62nd, 18:35.78).
On the men’s side, LSU tallied 239 points in securing their seventh-place finish.
Senior Drew Haro just missed a second straight top-10 finish, placing 11th with a time of 24:21.86. His time, a new PR on an 8K course, also marks the fastest by a Tiger athlete this season.
Following Haro across the finish line were freshman Alan Sticker and senior Jace Gohres. Sticker ran a personal-best 25:20.18 to place 43rd, while Gohres clocked 25:46.85 to place 66th.
Rounding out the list of scorers for LSU were freshman Michael Florek (70th, 25:55.38) and sophomore Harold Boutte (94th, 26:28.37).
Up next, both the Tigers and Lady Tigers will take next weekend off before returning to action at the Chile Pepper Festival on Oct. 14.
TEAM RESULTS (Top 10 only)
Men (Top 10 Only)
1. Stephen F. Austin, 45
2. Georgia, 59
3. Louisiana Tech, 145
4. FSU “B”, 197
5. Samford, 207
6. Miami, 212
7. LSU, 239
8. Kennesaw State, 242
9. Ole Miss, 248
10. North Florida, 252
Women (Top 10 only)
1. Iowa, 16
2. Auburn, 93
3. FSU “C”, 132
4. Stephen F. Austin, 133
5. Samford, 160
6. LSU, 192
7. New Mexico State, 193
8. North Florida, 207
9. Florida International, 213
10. South Carolina, 249
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS (Winner plus all LSU competitors)
Men
1, Barnanas Kirui, Ole Miss, 23:28.65. 11, Drew Haro, 24:21.86. 43, Alan Sticker, 25:20.18. 66, Jace Gohres, 25:46.85. 70, Michael Florek, 25:55.38. 94, Harold Boutte, 26:28.37. 104, Brett Borne, 26:43.36. 127, Jeff Adolph, 27:28.63.
Women
1, Diane Nukuri, Iowa, 16:10.12. 23, Megan Broussard, 17:54.09. 28, Rachael Graham, 18:01.68. 49, Lindsay Day, 18:25.32. 50, Christy Zirkle, 18:25.65. 62, Jennifer Stark, 18:35.78. 68, Erin Vandivort, 18:42.69. 78, Katie Dawson, 18:52.80. 82, Sarah Colosimo, 18:54.45. 107, Meisue Francis, 19:24.62. 131, Lynley Roche, 19:56.40.