Following No. 6 finishes for both the men’s and women’s cross country teams in the first meet, Tiger runners are glad to return to a familiar track this weekend. The Tigers will host the LSU Tiger Cross Country Festival on Saturday at 7:45 a.m. at Highland Road Park. “I’m really pumped about racing at home this weekend,” freshman Brett Borne said. At the Lobo Invitational in Albuquerque, N.M., the men’s team finished sixth, but senior Matthew Guy said the location gave the Tigers problems. “Not only was it the first race of the year, but it was held at [a high] altitude, which makes it more difficult due to the lack of oxygen,” Guy said. Borne led the way for the Tigers in Albuquerque with a No. 25 finish. He said that despite the good finish, he thinks he can improve his time. “As long as I lower my time, I’ll be happy,” Borne said. “But it’s just how much I lower my time that will determine how excited I will be.” At the Lobo Invitational, the women’s team was led by junior Rachael Graham, who finished No. 9. Cross country coach Mark Elliott said he was pleased with the way Graham ran. “She improved her time on this course by over a minute from last year,” Elliott said in a news release. “So I can’t be anything but pleased with her effort.” Graham said she is happy with the good finish, but she is more concerned with the end of the season. “The SEC meet is the meet that I’m shooting for,” she said. “So this second meet is a stepping stone in that direction.” Like the men’s team, the women’s team is also looking forward to racing at home. “I didn’t run in high school, so this is the first cross country meet that my parents have ever seen me run in,” Graham said.
“It’s always fun to run at home too because the course is familiar, and friends are there to root you on.” The Tiger Cross Country Festival will also be the homecoming race for the Tigers. Hurricane Katrina did not allow the team to have a homecoming race last season. “I am really looking forward to racing at home this week because, just like football, it’s homecoming that day,” senior Drew Haro said. Haro said the meet is a culmination of smaller schools from around the area, and he considers the Tigers the favorites. “We always like to think of ourselves as the favorites at this meet,” he said. “It is our chance to wear the purple and gold proudly in front of a home crowd and hopefully capture a team title.”
—–Contact Casey Gisclair at [email protected]