The LSU cross country teams picked up where they left off last season — near the back of the pack.The Tigers wrapped up the 2008 regular season at the Southeastern Conference Championships with a 10th place finish. The Lady Tigers finished last.After being rained out in their season opener at the Texas A&M Invitational, the Tigers and Lady Tigers finally started competition Friday at the Crimson Classic at the Harry Pritchard Running Course in Tuscaloosa, Ala.The women picked up an eighth-place finish out of 16 teams with 167 points. The men’s team finished 10th with 283 points. A total of 16 teams also comprised the field in the men’s race.”From where we were last year as a team and the personnel that we have, I thought they ran well,” LSU coach Mark Elliott said of the Lady Tigers. “They were very competitive across the board.”Elliott had different things to say about the performance of the men’s team.”The guys didn’t run as well as I thought they would,” he said. “But that’s why we have next week.”Both Alabama teams won their races in their season opener at the 21st annual Crimson Classic. The No. 10 Crimson Tide dominated the men’s side with a score of 34 as three of their runners were among the first four competitors to cross the finish line. The Alabama women posted a score of 43, with their top three runners finishing in the top seven overall.Other SEC foes Tennessee (55) and Auburn (76), along with Georgia Tech (153) and Belmont (156), rounded out the top five on the men’s side.In the women’s competition, Auburn (75) took second place, followed by Tennessee (88), Georgia Tech (115) and Samford (137).Top finishers individually for LSU were sophomore Katie Hamel in 21st place with a 5K time of 18 minutes, 43.5 seconds and sophomore Cullen Doody in 44th place with an 8K time of 26 minutes, 52.3 seconds.Sophomore Jenna Henssler (19 minutes, 13 seconds) and freshman Charlene Lipsey (19 minutes, 16.6 seconds) followed Hamel, finishing Nos. 33 and 34, respectively. Sophomores Laura Carleton (No. 45) and Amber Abbott (No. 49) rounded out the Lady Tigers’ top five.On the men’s side, sophomore Sean Swanner (27 minutes, 50.7 seconds) finished No. 72 behind Doody, followed by sophomore Luke Dessauer (No. 74; 27 minutes, 54.6 seconds), and freshmen Frank Bohn (No. 77; 27 minutes, 58.4 seconds) and Roger Cooke (No. 79; 28 minutes, 04.6 seconds).LSU hosts its lone home meet of the season Saturday in the LSU Invitational at Highland Road Park.”Our goal is to try and do better than we did last year,” Elliott said. “We keep trying to improve as we compete each week. I expect better results next week at our home meet.” TheTigers and Lady Tigers finished first and fifth, respectively, at last season’s home meet.—-Contact Jonathan Schexnayder at [email protected]