BATON ROUGE — After a two-week break from competition the LSU men’s and women’s cross country teams return to action this Saturday at the 18th annual Chile Pepper Festival in Fayetteville, Ark.
The meet, which will be hosted by the University of Arkansas at Agri Park, will begin at 9:45 a.m. with the men’s 10K race. The women will follow at 10:30 a.m. with a 6K run.
Competition will be the stiffest the Tigers and Lady Tigers have faced this season as over 40 Division I schools are scheduled to run. Top competition on the men’s side will come from No. 2 Arkansas, No. 11 UTEP and No. 17 Alabama, while the women will be challenged by No. 4 Arkansas, No. 15 Oklahoma State, No. 19 Baylor and No. 20 Duke.
Both the LSU men’s and women’s squads are coming are coming off solid top-eight performances at the highly competitive Auburn Invitational two weeks ago.
The Tigers were led by senior Drew Haro who earned an 11th-place finish after posting a personal best 8K time of 24:21.86. His time was also the fastest by a Tiger this season.
Pacing the women’s squad has been sophomore Rachael Graham and junior Megan Broussard. Graham has recorded top-10 finishes in two of the Lady Tigers’ three meets this season, while Broussard was LSU’s top finisher at the Auburn Invitational with a 5K PR of 17:54.09.
Following the Chile Pepper Festival, the Tigers and Lady Tigers will take next weekend off as they prepare to host the SEC Championships, Saturday, Oct. 28, at Highland Road Park.