The LSU Cross Country teams finished their 2013 seasons Friday morning with a pair of 17th place finishes while nine runners got their personal best times at the NCAA South Central Regional Championship at Cottonwood Creek Golf Course in Waco, Texas.
Junior runner Philip Primeaux led the Tigers with a 49th place finish and a personal best 10k time of 32:01. Leadership is nothing new to Primeaux, who has been the Tigers’ best runner in all but one race this season.
Primeaux said earlier in the week that he is not the type of leader who yells at the team, and would rather be one who leads through his performance.
The Lady Tigers were led by sophomore runner Morgan Schuetz for the second consecutive meet, as Schuetz took an 85th place finish. Schuetz destroyed her previous personal best by more than a minute as she finished with a 6k time of 23:00.
Other personal best runs by the Tigers and Lady Tigers included junior runners Bryan Mutell and William Weisler and freshmen runners Chaiss Matthews and Ashley Welborn. Head coach Khadevis Robinson emphasized throughout the year the importance of personal bests, and he was pleased by the results Friday.
“I felt that everyone ran well,” Robinson said. “Primeaux ran well, but I thought Morgan [Schuetz], [sophomore runner] Travis [Pope] and Ashley [Welborn] were the biggest surprises. Now we must work on having our personal bests be a bit more competitive.”
Another bright spot for LSU came in its competition with schools from its home state. The Tigers finished second out of the four teams from Louisiana competing, defeating both Tulane and the University of New Orleans. The Lady Tigers placed first out of teams from the state, finishing ahead of Tulane, New Orleans and UL-Lafayette.
On the men’s side, Arkansas narrowly edged out Texas by three points to take the team championship. Arkansas junior Stanley Kebenei took home the individual title, finishing with a time of 29:41.
Arkansas dominated all competition on the women’s side, finishing 83 points ahead of second place finishers Texas A&M and SMU. Texas senior Marielle Hall won the individual title, running a time of 19:41.
Although the meet concludes LSU’s cross country season, most of the runners on the team will transition to the sport they were recruited to run, track and field. LSU’s first track and field meet will be the Auburn Indoor Invitational on Jan. 18 in Birmingham, Ala.