BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s and women’s Cross Country teams begin the 2009 season Saturday when they travel to College Station, Texas to compete in the Texas A&M Invitational.
The meet will be held at Penberthy Intramural Fields with the men’s 8K race beginning at 7:45 a.m. The women will follow with a 5K race beginning at 8:30 a.m.
LSU is the only school not from the state of Texas represented in the field. Baylor, Houston, Texas A&M, Sam Houston State, UT-Pan American and UT-San Antonio are some of the other schools competing. Rice and SMU will also be represented in the women’s race only.
“In this first meet, we’re looking to see where we are as a team as we face some good competition,” LSU cross country coach Mark Elliott said. “This meet will give us an indication of what to expect this year.”
Elliott will start 11 runners in the men’s race and eight runners in the female competition, with several runners competing in their first collegiate meet.
Leading the men will be experienced juniors Tim Landry, Ken Ehrhardt, Kyle Hecker and Sean Swanner, all of whom competed for the Tigers in 2008. Swanner transferred from Texas A&M prior to the 2008 season.
Sophomores Frank Bohn, Luke Dessauer, Cullen Doody and Kenneth Schiffman will also compete for LSU. Bohn, Dessauer and Doody are making their LSU debuts in the meet.
Also making their LSU debuts are true freshmen Kyle Steele, Roger Cooke and Paras Shah. Steele earned All-State honors in 2008 at Walker High School.
The women will be led by returning sophomores Amber Abbott, Laura Carleton, Jessica Deutsch and Jenna Henssler and returning junior Lauren Ybarzabal.
Making her first appearance in an LSU uniform will be junior Devon Williams, a transfer from Arkansas. Also making their Lady Tiger debuts are seniors Amal Esmail and Katie Hamel.
“It’s not going to be an easy competition this weekend,” Elliott said. “Texas A&M always puts on a good meet and the competition is good. It’s going to force us to compete.”
Following the Texas A&M Invitational, the men’s and women’s teams will travel to Tuscaloosa, Ala., Saturday, Sept. 19 to compete in the Crimson Classic, hosted by the University of Alabama at Harry Pritchett Cross Country Course.