For the LSU cross country teams, the 2010 season will bring a new-look schedule and roster.
They can only hope it also brings different results.
After losing their top three runners to injuries and academic issues, the Tigers struggled to a last-place finish at the Southeastern Conference Championships and 18th in a 19-team field at NCAA regionals, behind the likes of Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Texas-Pan American. 
The Lady Tigers finished 11th out of 12 teams at the SEC Championships and last at NCAA regionals last season.
However, LSU coach Mark Elliott said last year’s struggles will ultimately help the team this season.
“The [2009] season wasn’t what we expected it to be,” he said. “But with two of our guys back that redshirted last year, we should have a much better team. We’ll know after the first meet, but our goal is to vastly improve on our performance from last year.”
LSU begins its season Friday at the MSU Invitational in Starkville, Miss., instead of Alabama’s Crimson Classic, an early-season stop in past seasons.
“Your first meet, as it relates to cross country, is to see where your team is,” Elliott said. “It’s a challenging course, so that’s the main reason for picking that course.”
Elliott expects the Tigers to be a much deeper group because of the experience that younger runners gained last year. Perhaps the biggest beneficiary was junior Cullen Doody, the team’s highest finisher in every race in 2009.
“I think it made everybody a little better because you have completely different teammates, so you’re forced to pick up the slack and step your game up when they’re not there,” Doody said.
The Tigers will be bolstered by the return of Richard Chautin and Alan Sticker, and Elliott believes they could be headed for their highest finish in a decade.
“I think we have a men’s team that, if they run together collectively, should be somewhere in the top five in the conference,” he said.
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Contact Ryan Ginn at [email protected]