BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s and women’s cross country teams travel to Waco, Texas, on Saturday to compete in the NCAA Cross Country South Central Regional.
The women will kick off the day with a 6k at 10 a.m. C.T. The men will run a 10k at 11 a.m.
No. 11 Arkansas headlines the teams competing in the men’s race, which also includes the likes of Texas A&M and Lamar. The women’s race features No. 25 Texas along with SMU and host Baylor.
The top two teams from the men’s and women’s races will automatically advance to the NCAA Championships, as well as 13 at-large teams from the nine regional meets.
In the 2009 regional, the LSU men’s team placed 18th while the women finished 21st.
“We are going to compete, put on a good showing and see what happens after that,” said cross country coach Mark Elliott.”
Senior Richard Chautin ushers the LSU men’s team into Waco, Texas. The Arnaudville, La., native has placed first among the Tiger men in each race this season. He has compiled three top-five finishes this season, along with a 24th-place finish at last week’s SEC Championships.
“Richard has a realistic shot of making it to the NCAA Championships as an individual,” Elliott said. “The 10k race is his best event, so hopefully he runs well and makes it.”
Fellow seniors Tim Landry and Alan Sticker and junior Cullen Doody aim to continue their recent success and bolster the men’s team’s efforts on Saturday. They each finished among the top 60 at last week’s SEC Championships.
For the women’s team, junior Laura Carleton marshals the Lady Tigers into the 6k race. She also has aspirations of advancing individually to the NCAA Championships.
“We have a good enough team to place high in the region,” said Elliott. “Laura is running well. She has a great chance to qualify as an individual.”
The sophomore trio of Charlene Lipsey and Brea and Dakota Goodman strive to provide the women’s team with much needed strong performances.
Lipsey finished 52nd at the SEC Championships with a 6k time of 22 minutes, 34.86 seconds, her best 6k time of the season. The Goodman twins both have two top-20 finishes this year, with their best 6k races coming at the LSU Invitational.
More information as well as immediate results can be found here 2010 NCAA Cross Country Regionals.
The NCAA Championships take place Monday, Nov. 22 in Terre Haute, Ind.
Follow the LSU men’s and women’s cross country teams on Twitter @LSUTrackField and on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/LSUtrackfield.