The LSU Cross Country team will wrap up a rebuilding season with the NCAA South Central Regional at the Cottonwood Creek Golf Course in Waco, Texas on Friday morning.
The race will end the teams’ first season under new head coach Khadevis Robinson, who came to LSU after coaching at Ohio State and UNLV. Going into the season, Robinson said the team needed to develop a new mindset to have improvement.
The Tigers displayed impovement in the Southeastern Conference championship on Nov. 1 when they finished 12th as a team and placing one runner in the top 50. Last season, the team finished 13th and failed to have a single runner in the top 65.
Junior runner Bryan Mutell said the season has been a fresh beginning as a result of Robinson’s new way of thinking.
“Khadevis has really turned us around in terms of mindset as well as results,” Mutell said. “We were able to finish better in the SEC championship than we did last year … I know it is not much, but it is a start.”
The Lady Tigers come off one of their most disappointing meets, getting a last-place finish of 14th and failing to get a runner in the top 100. Sophomore runner Morgan Schuetz, the team’s top finisher in the race, finished in 102nd ahead of only 10 other runners excluding her teammates.
The tribulations suffered by the women’s team come mostly from the departure of multiple runners, including the top four runners from last season’s South Central Regional. Junior runner Andria Aguilar, who’s been LSU’s top runner most of the season, said she struggled adjusting to such a large turnover.
“It was a big change for me. I had to be more thoughtful with what I did or said during practice,” Aguilar said. “It has been a real transition, but at the same time, the team is showing improvement.”
Junior runner Philip Primeaux said the goal of both teams at Regionals is to finish with a better result than last season. In that season, the Tigers finished 18th with only two runners in the top 100, while the Lady Tigers finished 8th with three runners in the top 50
The Tigers will start their race at 10 a.m., and the Lady Tigers will start at 11:15 a.m.