WACO, Texas — The LSU men’s and women’s cross country teams enter the NCAA South Central Regional on Saturday after finishing in 10th and 12th place respectively at the Southeastern Conference Championships.
LSU senior Cullen Doody capped off his final conference championship race with a 19th place performance to lead the tigers. His time over 8,000 meters is the 20th best in the SEC this season.
Doody placed 39 spots better than his finish a year ago in the same race with a time of 24 minutes 53.43 seconds to notch his best-ever result at the SEC championship.
Richard Chautin was the next Tiger to finish, coming in 39th place in 25:34.16.
The other LSU runners to finish were Philip Primeaux (26:23.22) in 66th, William Wiesler (26:26.69) in 68th, Roger Cooke (26:27.29) in 69th, Bryan Mutell (27:38.24) in 86th, Alden Heaphy (28:13.58) in 91st, Daniel Nally (28:20.28) in 92nd and Philip Dempsey (28:24.19) in 93rd.
The Tigers also own four of the five best SEC individual times over four miles this season. Cullen Doody, Richard Chautin and Roger Cooke‘s times of 19:40.00, 19:48.41 and 20:13.00 are the three fastest at that distance in the conference this season respectively. William Wiesler‘s time of 20:36.00 at McNeese is the fifth best time over four miles in the conference this year.
Charlene Lipsey led the Lady Tigers at the SEC Championship. The Hempstead, N.Y., native finished in 60th place with a time of 22:31.40.
Leigh-Ann Naccari was next to finish for LSU with a 67th place time of 22:49.14.
The remaining Lady Tigers to finish were, Dakota Goodman (23:06.79) in 75th, Laura Aleman (23:40.22) in 89th, Brea Goodman (23:42.62) in 90th, Christine Derbins (25:14.97) in 100th, Andria Aguilar (26:56.01) in 102nd, Michelle Mobley (28:01.49) in 103rd and Lindsay Roe (29:23.27) in 104th.
“We’re looking to have a better team performance as a team than we did at the SEC meet,” LSU head coach Mark Elliott said. “We think some individuals have a realistic chance to qualify for the NCAA meet. It will take a strong performance.”
The women’s race in Waco is slated for an 11:15 a.m. start and the men’s race is set for 10 a.m.