FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- Against one of the most competitive fields in the country the LSU men\'s and women\'s cross country teams finished 17th and 19th, respectively, at the Chile Pepper Festival on Saturday at Agri Park.
"I am pleased with the way we competed," said LSU cross country coach Mark Elliott. "I know that the results don\'t show it in terms of what we are used to in track, but I know individually everyone either ran a PR or close to their PR.
"In terms of how we matched up with the other SEC schools in the competition I was extremely pleased," added Elliott. "The women were second among SEC teams and the men were fourth. For us that is a very good indicator of where we stand conference-wise and that\'s what is important right now."
No. 4 Arkansas handily won the women\'s team competition, scoring just 41 points. No. 20 Duke and Texas Tech were second and third, respectively, with scores of 132 and 134. The Lady Tigers finished with 536 points, seven points ahead of 21st-place Mississippi State and 51 points in front of 22nd-place Alabama.
11th-ranked UTEP upset No. 2 Arkansas in the men\'s team race, scoring 64 points to the Razorbacks\' 77 points. SEC foes Alabama (104) and Mississippi State (408) finished fourth and 13th, respectively, while the Tigers followed with 457 points.
Individually, the Tigers were led by senior Drew Haro for the third straight race as he finished 50th on the 10K course with a time of 30:40.8. Other top finished for the Tigers included Michael Hendry (78th, 31:16.5) and Matthew Guy (129th, 32:05.5).
The Lady Tigers were once again paced by Rachael Graham and Megan Broussard. Graham, finished the 6K course in 22:10.7 to place 73rd. Broussard was 99th with a time of 22:27.0
Up next, both the Tigers and Lady Tigers will take next weekend off as they prepare to host the SEC Championships on Saturday, Oct. 28, at Highland Road Park.
TEAM RESULTS (Top 10 plus LSU only)
Men
1. UTEP, 64
2. Arkansas, 77
3. Abilene Christian, 101
4. Alabama, 104
5. Lamar, 169
6. California, 175
7. Virginia Tech, 274
8. James Madison, 324
9. Lehigh, 330
10. Wake Forest, 345
17. LSU, 457
Women
1. Arkansas, 41
2. Duke, 132
3. Texas Tech, 168
4. Virginia Tech, 168
5. Baylor, 179
6. Nebraska, 206
7. Lamar, 287
8. Maryland, 306
9. SMU, 323
10. UC Riverside, 374
19. LSU, 536
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS (Winner plus all LSU competitors)
Men
1, Nicodemus Naimadu, Abilene Christian, 28:22.8. 50, Drew Haro, 30:40.8. 78, Michael Hendry, 31:16.5. 129. Matthew Guy, 32:05.5. 142, Michael Florek, 32:13.0. 143, Brett Borne, 32:13.1. 169, Jeffrey Parker, 32:41.3. 201, Harold Boutte, 33:20.7. 202, Alan Sticker, 33:23.2.
Women
1, Sally Kipyego, Texas Tech, 19:29.3. 73, Rachael Graham, 22:10.6. 99, Megan Broussard, 22:27.0. 109, Jennifer Stark, 22:36.8. 157, Erin Vandivort, 23:05.6. 176, Lindsay Day, 23:21.3. 203, Katie Dawson, 23:41.0. 219, Meisue Francis, 23:50.2. 226, Christy Zirkle, 23:56.9. 235, Sarah Colosimo, 24:04.5.