Slow and steady wins the race — except in collegiate cross country.
The LSU cross country teams struggled Saturday amid windy conditions at the NCAA South Central Regional.
The men and women finished 14th and 16th, respectively.
The teams tallied identical 378-point scores, the best total for the Tigers since 2008 and the Lady Tigers since 2007. The performances represented a tangible improvement from last season’s disastrous regional, in which the Tigers staggered to a 19th-place finish and the women fell to 20th, the worst results of the decade for both squads.
It’s a theme that has surrounded the season — two teams comprised solely of walk-ons struggling to remain competitive against opponents stocked with scholarship runners.
“When you just have walk-on kids, it’s pretty hard to expect every weekend for them to rise above what their expectations are,” said LSU coach Mark Elliott.
Junior Richard Chautin’s 31st-place finish was the Tigers’ highest at the meet since Jacob Simmons finished 16th in 2008. His 10K time of 31 minutes, 20.3 seconds was just shy of his career-best time at the distance but far surpassed his previous two times at the NCAA regional.
Chautin has been the Tigers’ unquestioned leader in 2010, finishing first among his teammates in every meet. The inconsistency of other runners was once again the undoing of the team.
Sophomore Cullen Doody and junior Tim Landry were the next two Tigers to cross the line, finishing nearly two minutes behind Chautin in 88th and 89th place, respectively.
“It was never a question that [Chautin] would run well,” Elliott said. “It’s just unfortunate that the rest of the kids behind him did not have a great race.”
Sophomore Dakota Goodman was the Lady Tigers’ top competitor. She completed the course in 22 minutes, 12.9 seconds, the fastest 8K time of her career, en route to finishing 61st overall.
Sophomore Laura Carleton finished seven seconds back, the first time this season she didn’t lead the Lady Tigers.
“Laura Carleton had a knee injury that kept her from being at full strength, but I don’t want to slight Dakota because she had a great race,” Elliott said.
The meet ends the season for both teams, as neither team qualified for the NCAA championships.
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Contact Ryan Ginn at [email protected]