Senior Laura Carleton finished fifth overall individually to lead the Lady Tigers to a ninth-place finish out of 25 teams competing at the season-opening Commodore Classic held at Vanderbilt University on Sunday.
In her first meet since redshirting in 2011, Carleton paced LSU with a time of 21:14.53 in the 8,000-meter race.
“I was happy with my performance,” Carleton said. “First race of the season, it is always good to see where you are after all the miles and all the training over the summer.”
The next two finishers for the Lady Tigers were a pair of senior twins. Dakota Goodman finished 42nd overall while her sister Brea finished 48th.
Junior Leigh-Ann Naccari finished 62nd to round out the Lady Tigers who finished in the top-100 overall.
“I think our girls did really well,” Carleton said. “We didn’t have our full team, but I think everyone who did come ran fairly well for the first race.”
Vanderbilt won the meet while Ole Miss senior Katie Breathitt finished first individually.
The men’s team did not fare as well as the Lady Tigers in its season opener. The Tigers finished No. 19 out of 25 Division I teams.
“It was a mixed bag for the men,” said LSU coach Mark
Elliott. “A couple guys ran well, but collectively as a team, we need guys to run a whole lot better before we come back here for the conference meet.”
Senior Roger Cooke was the top finisher on the men’s side, finishing 69th overall with a time of 26:16.54.
“Roger ran well for us today,” Elliott said. “Based on this being his first time on the course, he pretty much ran to our expectations.”
Junior Bryan Mutell was the next Tiger to cross the finish line as he placed 104th. Freshman Travis Pope finished 118th while sophomores Phillip Dempsey and Phillip Primeaux finished 128th and
129th respectively.
Eastern Kentucky finished first as a team while Western Kentucky senior Joseph Chebet finished first individually.
The Tigers will return to Vanderbilt on Oct. 26 for the Southeastern Conference championship meet.
“I think the race was a good indication of where we are in the SEC, and now that we have seen the course, we have a better idea of what we need to work on improving going forward,” Cooke said.
