The LSU cross country teams relied on a pair of juniors at the Lobo Invitational Saturday hosted by the University of New Mexico.
Junior Jimmy Wiggins paced the men’s team in the 8K meet with a time of 25:25, good for 13th place overall. Meanwhile, junior Katie Denton led the pack for the women’s team, finishing the 6K race in 28th place with a time of 24:15.
The men’s team finished fifth overall with 159 points. The first five to cross the line for the Tigers finished in the top 50, led by Wiggins. A total of 120 runners participated in the race.
Jarett Roche placed 28th with a time of 26:42, followed by three LSU runners finishing with 10 seconds of each other. Ben Shumaker placed 35th (27:00), Roland LeBlanc placed 41st (27:05) and Matt Carroll placed 42nd (27:10) to finish the scoring.
The Lady Tigers placed sixth in the meet with 212 points. Denton led the charge, followed by Michelle Hymel in 40th place with a time of 25:36. Jennifer Radecker (25:50), Katrina Flanders (26:18) and Megan Klibert (26:38) finished in 43rd, 49th and 52nd place, respectively.
“We expect to have our best team, at this point in the season, out there and running,” coach Mark Elliot said.
Colorado State swept the Lobo Invitational, as both the men’s and women’s team took home the title in nearly similar fashion. The men’s team won with 35 points, while the women’s team did it with 36.
The Tigers travel to Athens, Ga. next weekend to participate in the University of Georgia’s Bulldog Stampede meet.