Fayetteville, Ark. – The LSU men’s and women’s cross-country will continue postseason action on Friday morning at the NCAA South Central Regionals at the Agri Park in Fayetteville, Ark. The women’s squad will be the first group to run as they will be competing in the 6k at 11:00 a.m. CT. The men will follow up in the 10k race at 12:00 p.m. CT.
The Tigers will be competing against some of the top teams in the region. The men’s team will have to go up against No. 29 Texas, the top team in the region, and SEC rivals Arkansas (RV) and Texas A&M who are ranked second and third respectively. On the women’s side, No. 1 Arkansas and Texas (RV) are the top ranked teams in the region.
The women’s team will be running in the 6k for the third straight meet this Friday and look to build off of their last performance at the SEC Championships. Katy-Ann McDonald led the way for the Tigers in 6k at the SEC Championships as she finished in 17th place with a time of 20:48.7. McDonald was the first runner to finish for LSU in each of the last four meets. Junior Alicia Stamey was the next Tiger to cross the finish line as she finished in 68th place with a time of 21:52.2. Adele Broussard continued her impressive freshman season with a scoring performance in her first collegiate postseason competition. Broussard placed 105th in the race with a time of 22:36.5. Following Broussard was senior runner Sara Funderburk who has scored in every meet this season. Funderburk crossed the finish line in 123rd place with a time of 23:12.8. The final runner to finish for LSU was Amber Desselle who extended her scoring streak to six straight meets. Desselle finished in 126th place with a time of 23:25.3.
The men’s squad is coming off the best performance for LSU at the SEC Championships since 2007 with an eighth-place finish. Eric Coston was the top Tiger in their last meet as he finished in 20th place with a time of 23:29.9. Coston has been the first runner to finish for the men’s team in all four meets he’s run in this season. Davis Bove continued his impressive freshman season with another scoring performance. The two-time SEC Men’s Freshman of the Week crossed the finish line in 23rd place with a time of 23:35.6 to earn him a spot on the 2019 SEC All-Freshman team. Blake Baldassaro followed Bove with a time of 24:21.6 and a 49th place finish. Rounding out the top scorers for LSU were Jackson Martingayle (24:21.6) and Cade Martin (25:03.0) who finished in 59th and 83rd place respectively.
USTFCCCA Regional Rankings
The women’s team is heading into the meet as the 15th ranked squad in the south-central region and the men’s team is the 10th ranked team. The top two teams in the meet will automatically earn a trip to the NCAA Championships. The top four runners on teams not advancing to the NCAA Championships will have chance to earn an individual bid.