The LSU men’s cross country team sorted through a challenging field Saturday to finish No. 7 at the Chili Pepper Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark. The Lady Tigers finished No. 30.”The Chili Pepper is an open competition,” said LSU coach Mark Elliott. “Every year, you can count on the Chili Pepper to be a strong field.”The competition included nationally ranked teams such as No. 20 Texas A&M and No. 27 Arkansas on the men’s side. For the women, the nationally ranked teams included No. 10 Arkansas, No. 14 Baylor, No. 23 Southern Methodist University and No. 29 Texas Tech. The winner of the women’s individual title was defending NCAA cross country champion, senior Sally Kipego of Texas Tech. The men’s 248 points in the 10k event trailed teams like Texas A&M with 52, hosting team Arkansas with 75, and Lamar University with 120, who finished first, second and third, respectively. Texas Tech captured the women’s title with 72 points, followed by Arkansas with 101 and Southern Methodist University with 139. The Lady Tigers’ score of 866 was No. 30 in the 39-team competition. Senior Jacob Simmons bounced back after failing to finish in his last race, the Auburn Tiger Invitational, because of illness. “I felt physically a lot better, and I felt mentally a lot tougher than I have in the past,” Simmons said. “I’m starting to sharpen up and get ready for the big meets that are about to come up.”Simmons led the Tigers in the 30-team men’s competition, finishing No. 32 with a time of 30:32.42. Sophomore Richard Chautin (31:07.07) and junior Andy Florek (31:09.59) followed Simmons, finishing No. 54 and No. 55, respectively.Junior Alan Sticker also finished in the top 100 at No. 87 in 31:58.50, and sophomore Tim Landry rounded out the team’s top-five runners at No. 116 in 32:41.17. “Based on their personal performance, the men had their best showing all year, in my opinion,” Elliott said. Senior Christina Porter led the Lady Tigers for the third time this season, finishing No. 106 on the 6k course in 22:51.44. “Again, Tina [Porter] ran her best time by 30 seconds on that course, so it’s kind of a double-edged sword,” Elliott said. “They are running as [well] as they can, but the strength of the team is just not there yet.”Four freshmen rounded out the top five for the Lady Tigers. Laura Carleton (24:01.01), Jenna Henssler (24:37.09), Amber Abbott (25:16.09) and Jessica Deutsch (25:25.14) finished No. 183, No. 205, No. 223 and No. 231, respectively. “All year I’ve said it’s a young team,” Elliott said. “They are going through some growing pains in terms of the level of competition that they faced and where they are talent-wise and fitness-wise.”Elliott said his teams will use this experience against nationally ranked opponents in the Chili Pepper Invitational to help prepare for the Southeastern Conference Championships on Nov. 3 and the NCAA South Central Regional on Nov. 15. “Confidence-wise, on the men’s side, it definitely helps in both races,” Elliott said. “It’s their first time to run 10k, and they ran so well. So it looks good in the regional.”—-Contact Jarred LeBlanc at [email protected]