Saturday, Sept. 17, Lion’s Cross Country competed in its second race of the season placing fifth among the women and sixth among the men. 

Down on the bayou, the Lions produced a top 10 finish in the annual Nicholls Invitational with sophomore Ines Legendre placing eighth in the 5k. 

Running a time of 19:22.10, Legendre was the first Lady Lion to come in on the women’s side, followed by Hannah Linbaugh at 20:54.33 finishing 20th and Johanna Helmrich coming in 25th at 21:49.26.

Legendre, the only returner from last semester competing this week said, “Every competition I do, there comes a time when I want to quit because it’s too hard. But I don’t give up because my mind is stronger than my body.” 

This mindset won Legendre a race t-shirt. 

On the men’s side, finishing first for the green and gold was Chris Norman who placed 29th with a time of 22:57.88. Running second and third on the team, Tristen Pugmire finished 36th at 23:39.57, and Landen Schillage came across 49th at 25:44.80. 

After getting their first taste of the conference course, the team will be moving on to the final regular season meet at the LSU Invitational next Friday. 

Distance Coach Clayton O’Callaghan said, “We’re coming right along. It is a very young team that we’re still getting used to the environment and the expectations at every competition. I think we’re making tremendous jumps and going into next week, we should see another big jump from the group as well.“