The LSU cross country team has its most important run of the year today at the 2011 Southeastern Conference Championship meet.
“I’m excited about the SEC meet because we’ve been training for this meet all season,” said junior Leigh-Ann Naccari. “I’m hoping the girls’ team will just be able to stick together throughout the race so that we can decrease the time gap between our team as a whole.”
The Tigers run at 9 a.m. and the Lady Tigers run at 11 a.m. on the Lambert Acres Golf Course in Maryville, Tenn.
“More so than any other meet, SEC’s is all about place,” said senior Cullen Doody. “This course is supposed to be the hardest one in the conference, so we just need to compete against other teams.”
Tennessee plays host to this year’s SEC Championship meet on a hilly terrain.
“You’ve got to assume it’s going to be a much hillier course than we’ve seen in a couple years, but that’s why you train and prepare to run on any kind of course,” said coach Mark Elliott. “It’s probably going to be colder than what we’re used to, but those are just excuses.”
Elliott said the team runs through hills in practice, so it shouldn’t be much of an adjustment.
“That’s a common denominator in my type of training,” he said. “We would train the same way if [the meet] was in Baton Rouge or South Carolina where it’s extremely flat because the stronger you are, the easier it is to traverse the distance.”
Elliott said the championship meet rotates locations among SEC schools each year, but some teams decline to host.
The host team has an advantage because it knows the course and how to race strategically on it. The Tigers traveled to Maryville on Saturday so they could get a feel for the course.
“The reason we get there early is to jog the course and come up with our own plan on how to run this race,” Elliott said. “We’ll get there early enough to at least try to know it.”
This will be Doody’s and redshirt senior Richard Chautin’s fourth and final time to compete in the SEC championship meet.
“Hopefully I can help some of the younger guys know what to expect like the older guys did for me when I was a freshman,” Doody said.
Doody said because a loss to Mississippi State and a blowout loss to Arkansas were LSU’s only conference competition this year, the team can see how much it has progressed by how it finishes compared to the Bulldogs and the Razorbacks.
Chautin said he’s hoping everyone on both teams can excel.
“It’s hard to have a day where most of the team has a great performance, and I’m hoping that happens [today] at this meet,” Chautin said. “A lot of the guys have come a long way, the ladies
Cross country: Tigers, Lady Tigers compete in SEC championship today
By Andrew Chapple
Sports Contributor
Sports Contributor
October 29, 2011