Fresh off a second place finish in Starkville, Miss., the LSU cross country team will hold the LSU Invitational at Highland Road Park on Saturday.
LSU will host 11 other schools this weekend, including last year’s champion, the University of Houston. Last year, the LSU men finished third and the women finished fourth. Head coach Mark Elliott hopes to improve on that performance.
“We’re trying to win the meet. Because realistically, we can,” Elliott said.
Knowledge of the course and the support of friends and family will give the Tigers an advantage over the competition, Elliott said.
“It’s exciting to go in front of all of our family and friends,” senior Richard Chautin said. “Most of our parents can make it to this meet. There’s an overwhelming amount of people just yelling ‘Go Tigers.'”
Both the men and women finished second to Mississippi State at the MSU Invitational on Sept. 18, finishing with 64 and 67 points, respectively. Chautin won the men’s individual title with a time of 24:41.13. Junior Laura Carleton led the LSU women with a time of 18:44.10 and a fourth place finish.
Elliott credits hard work and dedication for the team’s early success.
“The kids got a lot more serious over the summer and did a lot more preparation over the summer,” Elliott said. “They take more pride into having a team and being competitive than the way we showed [last year].”
The impressive start has Elliott excited for the season.
“We definitely have a better group of runners than we had last year,” Elliott said. “I kind of knew the performance would be better, but I was a little bit surprised how fast they ran on that course. It’s kind of raised our expectations a little bit.”