The men’s and women’s cross country teams put together top five finishes, overcoming hilly terrain and fierce competition.
Following their impressive finish at the Azalea City Cross Country Classic in Mobile, Ala., the teams took to the Louisiana State University (LSU) Invitational hoping to continue their strong running. Junior Joseph LeGrange led the men to third place with a ninth place finish and a time of 27 minutes, 35.1 seconds. The women were lifted to a fourth place finish by junior Heather Fitzhenry who ran the course in 22 minutes and 55.1 seconds.
“Even though it’s hot, even though it’s a challenging course with a lot of hills, we performed real well,” said head coach Sean Brady. “I’m very pleased with what we’ve been able to do.”
LeGrange added that familiarity with the course helped him run to the best of his ability.
“This is my home field course. I ran this all during high school so it just felt like running it once more. Routine, basically,” said LeGrange on his impressive finish.
The finish marks improvement from their previous outing in Mobile, Ala., where the men’s team finished seventh and the women’s finished tenth.
With only one race left until the Southland Conference Championships at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas, the team will be looking to build on this strong performance.
“This is a good race. This is a good setup for this time of the year. We got to see some SEC schools. We got to see the best school in our conference,” said Brady about preparing for the Conference Championships. “We had some freshmen step up. Really positive things are happening. Our energy is good, our enthusiasm is good and the training is going well. We stay healthy and focused and engaged the last few weeks of this season. I think the outcomes will speak for themselves.”
Other top finishes for the women included senior Lindsey Toups and senior Bethany Burst who finished with a time of 23 minutes and 23.6 seconds and 23 minutes and 31.6 seconds respectively. For the men, junior Paul Arthur put together another strong finish with a time of 28 minutes and 18.8 seconds and junior Matt Mouton posted a time of 29 minutes and 22.4 seconds.
“This is our second 6k of the season, usually this is our first one every other season, but last week we had a 6k, and we all did pretty well; this meet we all did really well, actually,” said Burst. “Most importantly, we’re focusing on running as a team this year, and we all improved our times from last week.”
The men’s and women’s cross country teams will run again at the Choctaw Open in Clinton, Miss. on Saturday, Oct. 14.