For some students, running is just exercise; but for others, it’s life. Although LSU’s cross-country team isn’t as well-known as the bigger sports, it is still played by dedicated athletes who practice all year. While cross-country as a sport may be practically unheard of to the average person, it does draw a small, dedicated fanbase. “A couple of years ago or so, cross-country was the sport that had the most participants in high school and college,” said LSU cross-country coach Mark Elliott. “It is a popular sport – just not with the fans. The fans that we have are true fans – few, but they understand it.” Cross-country meets often provide an interesting atmosphere. Fans, especially runners’ families and friends, litter the sides of the course cheering for their favorite team. As the runners race away, the crowds split as some fans go on to await the runners at a latter part of the track, and others linger and wait for the runners to return. A few kilometers later – the track for National Collegiate Athletic Association regular season meets is 8K for the men and 6K for the women – the leaders round the bend and push themselves through the final stretch, obviously exhausted. Junior Joseph Simuchimba led the men’s team to a second-place finish this past weekend at Auburn. Simuchimba has led the Tigers in each of three meets this season, as has Kate Accardo, who led the Lady Tigers to an eighth place finish at Auburn The Florida Gators won both the men’s and women’s races and have now finished first in both races of both meets this season. “We’re looking really good as a team right now; I’m happy,” said LSU senior runner Michael Hendry. “Everybody’s running well, and if we can get everybody to run as well as they can, I think we can do really well at the [Southeastern Conference Championship] meet.” Runners train all year to stay in the shape necessary to compete in the men’s and women’s 8K races. “During the summer, everybody tries to get their mileage up and get a good base coming into the season,” Hendry said. Several LSU cross-country runners, including Hendry, also compete in track and field during the cross-country off-season. During the season, the runners practice almost every day in attempt to reach their potential. “We work out three times a week – Monday, Wednesday and Friday – doing interval runs,” Hendry said. “Tuesday and Thursday, we lift weights and do long runs. Then Sunday we do a long run – about 14 miles.” Interval runs, Hendry explained, are a repetition of a certain interval – whether a mile or 800 or 400 meters – with short rests in between repetition. One might wonder what makes individuals want to put so much into run competitively – or what even makes runners start. For LSU senior runner Megan Broussard, cross-country was a requirement to play basketball. “When I won some eighth grade meets, I got attached to [cross-country], did better in it than in basketball, and kept doing it,” Broussard said. Hendry said he started running after seeing his older brother run for LSU, and he “happened to be alright at it,” so he stuck with it. In addition to the pressure of going head-to-head with some of the best schools in the country like Arkansas, which is currently defending 33 consecutive conference championships, student-athletes also have to keep up with their school work. “I’m always tired, and it’s hard to come home after a work out and want to study,” Hendry said. “All you want to do is sleep.” For the runners to juggle everything on their busy schedules, procrastination isn’t an option. “It takes getting into a routine and actually doing stuff when you need to do it and not putting stuff off,” Broussard said. Elliott said his team is primarily comprised of walk-on athletes – which adds another element to the runners’ situation. Walk-ons are athletes who come unrecruited to college like the average student and then try out for the team. “Being a walk-on, I felt that I had to work really hard just so I can make the team,” Broussard said. “And then [I have] to impress the coach and make him think that he should keep [the walk-ons] around,” said Broussard. After three straight weekends of competition, Elliott and the cross-country team now have a weekend off before traveling to SEC powerhouse Arkansas for the Chili Pepper Invitational on Oct. 13. The upcoming Arkansas meet will mark the last meet this season before the SEC Championship on Oct. 27 in Lexington, Ken.
—-Contact Jerit Roser at [email protected]