Baton Rouge, La. – The LSU men’s and women’s cross country teams will host the annual LSU Invitational on Saturday morning at Highland Park. The women will get the meet started at 7:30 a.m. with three-mile race with the men following at 8:10 a.m. CT for a four-mile course.
The Tigers will host McNeese State, University of New Orleans, Nicholls State, Southeastern, Southern, Tulane and UL-Lafayette at the eight-team meet.
“We’re looking forward to this meet,” head coach Mark Rinker said. “We’ve changed the course up a bit this year. I think it’s probably a bit better of a course than we’ve run in the past at Highland. We’ve worked out there pretty much every week so far this season, and I think everyone pretty much enjoys the new set up. I think it’s a better course in general, it gives our athletes a chance to run quicker.”
The Tigers were led by a pair of freshmen – Julia Palin and Adam Wise – on both the men’s and women’s squads at the McNeese Opener.
“Julia, on the women’s side, she’s someone that probably not a lot of people have heard about before she came to LSU,” Rinker noted. “She had a great spring season her senior year, which was really good for her first year running distance in high school. She has been really fantastic, at the front of all of the workouts, really pushing girls like Ersula (Farrow). They’ve had really great workouts together by pushing each other, that’s been really fun to see. So I think she’ll be a great contribution to the team later in the year.
“Adam Wise, on the men’s side, he was a Louisiana State cross country champion and a one-mile champion. His training with Harrison (Martingayle) and Eric (Coston) has really taken him two or three steps forward this fall. I think he’s going to have a really good season.”
Both teams will be going up in distances at Saturday’s home meet. The three miles for the women will replicate what they will see for most of the season until the postseason meets arrive, and the four miles for the men is a slow progression towards the 8k’s they will be running the rest of the year.
“It’s going to be a good step up in distance for the women and men,” Rinker acknowledged. “For the women, it’ll be good for them to feel what a 5k/3 mile-run feels like. For the men it’s going to be a good transition towards our longer races that are coming up.”
Last Time Out
The women claimed the team title at the McNeese Opener with a team total of 29 points. Palin led the Tigers in her first collegiate race and finished second with a 4k time of 10:13.8. The final four scores for LSU were Hannah Bourque (10:17.3/3rd place), Erika Lewis (10:28.8/5th place), Alicia Stamey (10:39.9/8th place) and Monica Guillot (10:50.1/11th place). The men registered a fourth-place finish with a team score of 75 points. Wise led the way with a third-place finish (12:36.3/4k) and was followed by Harrison Martingayle (12:43.9/4th place) and Eric Coston (12:48.1).