Admittedly, the LSU cross country teams went into the Chile Pepper Festival with muted expectations.
While their performance at the meet will never be confused with greatness, the teams’ mixed results throughout the season gives rise to a question: With the regular season complete and the postseason on the horizon, is the teams’ metaphorical glass half-empty — or is it half-full?
The argument for half empty is certainly out there. After all, the Tigers and Lady Tigers finished 25th and 28th, respectively, in Saturday’s meet.
“It probably came at a good time so we’re not going into conference with all these second-place finishes,” said LSU coach Mark Elliott. “It’s a good wake up call.”
The half full side: those results came in fields of 50 teams in the men’s race and 56 for the women. The men also finished 25th in 2009, but against only 28 other teams. Saturday was the first time since 2005 that both LSU teams finished in the top 50 percent of the Chile Pepper field.
This year’s edition of the Chile Pepper Festival was also the most talented regular season field the Tigers have faced in years. Entered in the men’s race were five ranked teams, as well as the defending champions for both Division I (Oklahoma State) and Division II (Adams State).
“You can’t compare something like [Chile Pepper Festival] to the home meets and smaller meets,” junior Cullen Doody said of the meet’s size and depth. “It’s just unbelievable.”
Junior Richard Chautin, a top-three finisher in every race prior to Chile Pepper, came in 73rd, his worst result since 2007. Sophomore Charlene Lipsey, who entered the season still recovering from an injury, appeared to be healed after a fifth-place finish at the Cowboy Stampede. Saturday, Lipsey regressed back to early-season form, clocking a time of 19 minutes, 0.41 seconds – good enough for 180th.
However, the Lady Tigers got career-best 5K times from junior Laura Carleton as well as sophomores Brea Goodman, Dakota Goodman and Leigh-Ann Naccari. Carleton, who finished a team-best 65th, has topped her personal best in all three 5K races this season.
Ultimately, the real test comes in two weeks, when the teams head to the Southeastern Conference Championships.