The LSU cross country teams head to Fayetteville, Ark., this weekend to compete in one of their biggest meets of the season for the Chile Pepper Invitational at the Agri Park cross country course.There are 33 men’s teams competing in the meet, including No. 4 Oklahoma State, No. 23 Oklahoma and No. 25 Arkansas.The Lady Tigers will compete against 36 other teams, including No. 12 Baylor, No. 20 Texas Tech, No. 22 BYU and No. 26 Southern Methodist. All of the rankings are from the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association poll.The Tigers enjoyed their second-best finish in the event this decade when they placed seventh out of 30 teams. Hundreds of runners compete from all over the country in the race.”It’s always a race we look forward to [competing in] each year,” said junior Kyle Hecker. “It’s always a good indicator of how we’ll do in conference and regionals.”This weekend will be the longest event of the season so far for the Lady Tigers. The women will run a 6K, which adds a little more than a half-mile to the race.Sophomore Amber Abbott said she is looking forward to the increased competition and mileage.But the Chile Pepper Invitational is not just a collegiate cross country event. Before the Tigers and Lady Tigers step foot on the grass and prepare to race, a public 10K will take place on the course.Abbott said she doesn’t think the runners racing on the course before the collegiate event will affect the conditions on the course.”There’s no such thing as a perfect cross country course,” Abbott said. “The weather is going to be the biggest adjustment we need to make.”Temperatures for Saturday’s race are supposed to dip into the 40s. It will be the first time this season LSU runners will race in temperatures below the 60s. LSU has spent its entire season training and competing in warm, humid climates.But Hecker is looking forward to running in the cold weather.”We will be able to go faster because we won’t suffer as much,” Hecker said. “It’s so much easier to run in cold weather; you just naturally go faster. Hopefully, we’ll be able to take advantage of the weather.”The Tigers are coming off a three-week break in competition. Their last event, the LSU Invitational, was held Sept. 26 in Baton Rouge.The Tigers used the home-course knowledge to their advantage and posted their best overall team scores of the season. The men placed third out of 13 teams, and the women placed fourth out of 16 teams.—-Contact Luke Johnson at [email protected]