BATON ROUGE — After a three-week break from competition, the LSU men’s and women’s cross country teams sprint back into action Saturday as they travel to Fayetteville, Ark., to compete in the Chile Pepper Invitational hosted by the University of Arkansas.
The men’s team will compete in their first 10K meet of the season, which will begin at 9:30 a.m. The women’s race will be a 6K event, slated to begin at 10:30 a.m. It is the Lady Tigers’ first 6K race of the year, as well.
The Chile Pepper Invitational is a perennial favorite for the Tiger runners, as this year’s field features some of the best competition LSU will face all season including No. 4 Oklahoma State, No. 23 Oklahoma and No. 25 Arkansas on the men’s side, and No.12 Baylor, No. 20 Texas Tech and No. 22 BYU on the women’s side.
All together the men’s race will feature 33 teams, while 37 teams will compete in the women’s race.
Leading the LSU men will be sophomore Cullen Doody, who led the Tigers in the first two meets of the season, clocking a 26:52.30 at the Crimson Classic 8K, and a 27:19.01 at the LSU Invitational. Doody finished 44th and 16th, respectively.
Also running for the LSU men will be juniors Ken Ehrhardt, Kyle Hecker, Tim Landry and Sean Swanner. Landry posted the best time of any LSU returning runner last year at the Chile Pepper Invitational, where he clocked a 32:41.17.
Sophomores Frank Bohn and Luke Dessauer, along with freshmen Roger Cooke, Paras Shah and Kyle Steele will also compete for LSU.
On the women’s side, the Lady Tigers look to have strong performances from sophomore Jenna Hennsler and freshman Charlene Lipsey. The two have been LSU’s most consistent runners, as they finished 33rd and 34th, respectively at the Crimson Classic, and 13th and 14th respectively at the LSU Invitational.
Also running for the LSU women will be seniors Amal Esmail, Katie Hamel and Kayann Thompson, along with junior Lauren Ybarzabal.
Sophomores Amber Abbott and Laura Carleton will also race for the Lady Tigers. Carleton clocked the best time of any returning Lady Tiger runner at last year’s Chile Pepper Invitational where she clocked a 24:01.01.
The Chile Pepper Invitational is the last meet for both the men’s and women’s teams before competing in the SEC Championships on October 31 in Oxford, Miss.