LSU cross country coach Mark Elliott is not one to sugarcoat the poor finish of his teams at the Southeastern Conference Championships.”We were hoping to have a better effort as a team,” he said. “The talent level that we have this year is just not up to par as it pertains to being competitive.”The LSU men finished last among 11 teams Saturday with 321 points — South Carolina does not have a men’s team. The LSU women finished 11th out of 12 teams competing with 335 points. No. 6 Alabama captured its second consecutive SEC title on the men’s side. The Crimson Tide finished with 56 points.Alabama was followed by No. 28 Arkansas (61) in second place and No. 24 Auburn (86) in third.The No. 5 Florida women took the women’s championship in    dominant fashion with 24 points. The Lady Gators had their top five runners all finish in the top 10.Tennessee finished runner-up behind Florida with 80 points, and No. 29 Arkansas (87) rounded out the top three. The Lady Tigers’ score edged only host Ole Miss’ 338 points.”They ran close to their best,” Elliott said of the women. “You hate to signify well finishing [11th]. That’s where we were supposed to finish.”Sophomore Cullen Doody led the Tigers for the fourth consecutive time this season, finishing 71st overall with an 8K time of 27 minutes, 55.92 seconds.Elliott said three runners redshirting was a reason for their woes throughout the season.”When your fourth guy becomes your first guy, you are going to struggle,” he said.Ole Miss junior Barnabas Kirui won the individual men’s title with a time of 24 minutes, 24.75 seconds. Kirui also took the title as a freshman in 2006.Junior Kyle Hecker followed Doody at 75th with a time of 28   minutes, 19.59 seconds.Six other LSU runners finished within 20 seconds of one other. Junior Sean Swanner, sophomore Kenneth Schiffman and junior Ken Ehrhardt rounded out the top five at 78th, 79th and 80th, respectively.”Five or six guys running together in the back is not a good thing,” Elliott said matter-of-factly. “Effort-wise they ran as best as they could.”Florida sophomore Rebecca Lowe claimed the individual women’s title with a 6K time of 20 minutes, 57.35 seconds.The Lady Tigers were led by freshman Charlene Lipsey for the second time this season. Lipsey finished 63rd with a 6K time of 23 minutes, 38.38 seconds.Lipsey also paced the Lady Tigers in the Chile Pepper Invitational on Oct. 17.”Charlene Lipsey, the freshman, came out and ran her best race yet,” said Elliott.Junior Katie Hamel followed Lipsey and finished 67th in 23 minutes, 46.92 seconds. Hamel did not compete in a 6K meet prior to this weekend.Sophomores Laura Carleton (23 minutes, 56.63 seconds), Jenna Henssler (24 minutes, 48.51 seconds) and senior Amal Esmail (25 minutes, 29.78 seconds) finished 70th, 85th and 92nd, respectively.The teams will travel to Waco, Texas, next for the NCAA South Central Regional on Nov. 14.————Contact Jonathan Schexnayder at [email protected]